Try and Re-Build
by MeowzieChan
Summary: They've landed in another world, and it hurts too much to stay where they were. So they don't. Or: In which two lost Riders go looking for some answers. Part of Riders (Re)United
1. Staying isn't an option

They can't stay here.

This version of Touto is so, so much better off then the one they left. (The one they... replaced? Repaired? … Erased?)

But it hurts to be here.

It hurts so, so much to encounter these people, to even _see_ the strangers carrying names and wearing faces that they met and knew, that they fought against and alongside.

They thought about meeting them, and trying again, at first.

But it would be cruel.

Not just for themselves, but for the others too.

Sento and Ryuga both know full well that they wouldn't be able to separate their friends who lived _the_ _re_ from the people who live _here_ , and that's not fair to these familiar strangers.

It's just too hard, seeing a laughing farmer and his friends, who never had to give up their humanity so their families could live, but who can joke and cheer and _re_ _lax_.

(And isn't it strange that he still falls for the same girl?)

Seeing a politician and his son, who hadn't been worn down and torn to pieces by a war, but are thriving and whole.

Seeing an engineer and a reporter who didn't have their lives mapped out for them, but who got to choose their own paths.

(And isn't it strange that the dynamics may shift, but the choices are still so similar?)

Seeing a pair of goofs with a band, and a successful one at that.

(And isn't it strange, that even after endangering him, they never thought to tell Tatsuya that Sento _wasn't_ Taro, did they? They probably should have… but how do you tell someone that? And there was no time. Just one more mistake.)

Seeing a father who runs a booming cafe.

(And they never even knew him the first time around, did they? It was never really him back then.)

Seeing a daughter who goes shopping and sings karaoke with her friends and _smiles_ , who doesn't carry that awful weight and guilt of being used and tricked on her shoulders.

(And why couldn't they have seen sooner that she blamed herself? Yet another mistake.)

Seeing a woman who got treatment and recovered.

(It hurts so much that she won't know him – not this version of him.)

Seeing a man who never had to throw a fight.

(The monkey jokes are harsher looking back – and couldn't have been further from the mark.)

Seeing a scientist who openly loves his parents.

(Did she know it was him? Even when _he_ didn't know who he was, did _she_?)

(Did she know his father was still alive, too?)

* * *

Identities are a problem, too. Sento has one mans face and memories for another two, and Ryuga has a fully-human double born seven months after him. They don't (didn't?) exist here – not in a way that fits the shape of this new world.

They have a phone that's a bike, and a mechanical dragon that hasn't woken up. (Ryuga hopes it will, someday. He grew fond of the little guy.)

They've got two belts, and two bottles – one silver, one gold.

(Neither has tried using them. It feels like it would be bad luck to try, but that it would be even worse to get rid of them.)

Sento Kiryu and Ryuga Banjou cannot stay in this Touto, which is properly a _city_ again, not a war-torn city-district-region-country hybrid.

WAS it a city in their world? They aren't really sure anymore. Neither of them remember much of politics before the Skywall. Sento only ever really picked up (was given?) memories through Katsuragi's days in high school, and a blurry version of what happened after the possession thing. Besides, Takumi Katsuragi had focused considerable more on science than… well, pretty much anything else going on around him. Ryuuga was 13 – he was just a kid! – when the wall went up, and a lot of his youth was blurred and smudged and faded by Evolt.

(Back home, it was Quite A Day when he realized that Misora was the only one there younger than him. Kazumin called him a kid for a week.)

* * *

They can't stay here.

So. they leave.

They leave the city that they _remember_ but don't _know_.

* * *

Finding work is hard when you have a past that doesn't and _can't_ match the world you're in, and everything down to the roads just isn't the same compared to the ones you know/remember/knew.

Some of the biggest differences are to history.

* * *

They look up the past of this other Earth, to see how far back it diverged from their own. They go back 25 years, and there hasn't been anything that _returned_ from Mars. So that's a good sign, they guess.

(They hope.)

They go back further, to make sure they don't say the wrong things, and start looking up cultural changes as well, to make sure they can pass for people who've been here all along.

They come across something weird.

It's an urban legend site, sure, and neither of them is sure how they actually GOT to that page. But that picture is…

It's a photo from the early 1970's – discolored by age and grainy from being digitized. It's off center, and crooked, and looks amateur, but there's no reason to think it's _not_ real.

A photo of two men on a cliff, posing next to a pair of motorcycles.

Two men wearing full masks and armored bodysuits.

A photo captioned as the "first known photo of Kamen Riders 1 and 2 together."

So. That's new.

* * *

The pair who fought as Build and Cross-Z dig deeper. And as they get closer to the present, more and more warriors of justice fighting under the name (title?) of Kamen Rider show up.

There's a period after the early 1990's where the records sort of stop, and no heroes show up for a while, but around 2000 new Riders start appearing again.

Some of them are just rumors, and urban legends, but others are definitely on record as being real.

And they keep reading, and the closer to the present the more familiar things sound.

* * *

 _8_ _years ago –_ _rumors of a_ _R_ _ider in black with a_ _partner_ _who didn't QUITE pass for human._

 _7 years ago – a high school that emphasized space and science, with sightings of a Rider in silver._

Ryuga has visited that school, and been rescued by the warriors in those blurry, hastily shot photos.

 _5 years ago –_ _a_ _n archiv_ _ed_ _copy_ _of a_ _web_ _site for a dance competition, that turned_ _in_ _to monster fights, that_ _turned_ _in_ _to_ _battles between_ _team_ _members in armor, that then_ _just_ _stopped_ _updating_ _,_ _and_ _was_ _f_ _ollowed by accounts_ _that_ _describe a city turned into a war zone._

That first armored rider helped get Sento to Ex-Aid's world. To what might be THIS world.

Neither of them have wanted to talk about the nagging worry they've both had the past month, living here on this other earth.

 _3 years_ _ago –_ _a_ _temple that has never gone out of their way to confirm the rumors of a Rider in black and orange, but has never gone out of their way to deny them, either._

The concern about what happened that brought them here, alive. What brought them here when neither expected to come out of that last battle with Evolt.

 _2 years ago – news footage and reports from this worlds Seito, about a digital viral outbreak and the Riders that fought it – and the eventual press conference covering the aftermath, led by a doctor with a face that appears in two sets of memories in one persons head._

The fear that "they didn't get it right."

 _7 months ago –_ _N_ _ews articles about a_ _resurgence of the virus and a_ _giant mechanical hand reaching to the sky_.

That "maybe they didn't _fix_ anything."

 _7 months ago_ _–_ _terrified_ _social media_ _posts about another earth in the sky,_ _one_ _that had_ _a jagged red scar._

That "maybe they just left home."

 _7 months ago –_ _still frames_ _collected_ _from_ _amateur videos of two Riders fighting a gear themed enemy._

That "maybe they just took themselves out of the equation."

 _7 months ago –_ _two riders,_ _a constant and an unknown,_

That "maybe they left everything behind -

 _7 mo_ _nt_ _hs ago – a rider in gold, with a name_ _and reputation_ _to put to the mask,_

"- left everyONE behind -

 _7 months ago_ _–_ _and a rider in blue and red, never seen before or since._

"maybe everyone else is gone and the people here – these same-but-different people we know-but-don't – are just the alternate versions, not merged or remade or saved, but just preexisting familiar faces that will never, ever replace the ones that I just ran away from and left behind to d-"

And Sento didn't even know he was talking until he couldn't get the words out, until he was choking on fears and doubts and grief and guilt, and sobbing at things that were "all his-and-my fault and he-no-I did this and brought so, so much suffering and then I just ran away and I didn't even have the _decency to remember-"_

And Ryuga grabs him, holding him close in almost a death grip to keep this stupid, egotistical, _terrified_ genius from shaking himself to pieces – physical, mental, emotional, whatever. And he's shaking too, because he hasn't wanted to think about these possibilities, either.

Hasn't wanted to think about how maybe they messed up – that _he's_ the one who messed it up, because if nothing else, the other him shows that black-hole bastards or no, he is consistently a more of a fighter than a thinker, and if anyone that was there that day screwed up the creation of a literal world it would be him…

So, he keeps saying quiet, ragged reassurances to his best friend – only friend now that the others are strangers again – both of them red-eyed and hoarse and SCARED, because they just. Don't know what really happened in and after that gap in reality where space and time and energy were colliding and tearing apart. And that not knowing, that's terrifying for both of them, but neither have dared bring it up for just this reason. It's so, so terrifying to have so much information and yet still have nothing but questions.

He hasn't said anything about it, doesn't say anything now, but he can see. It's awful for Ryuga, the not knowing. But 'not understanding' isn't really NEW to him – confused has kind of been his default state since they met and he hasn't hid that at all – but for Sento? He always refused to admit it, and now he can't help but let it show.

Sento Kiryu had really only existed for a year before they met at a factory and a fight, and been manipulated and lied to. He kept trying to find himself and kept coming up with nothing. He made so much of his identity rely on his smarts and on Build and just hid away anything that didn't fit the person he was or might have been or could be – anything that didn't have a place in the puzzle of his past and present. He took whatever he couldn't make room for and buried it behind the mask of a grinning nerd and the helmet of a warrior for love and peace.

Then they were thrown into war, and so, so many awful things had happened, and Ryuuga hadn't said anything back home, hasn't said anything here and still doesn't, but he's been seeing it for months. He's seen his friend shouldering worry and stress and doubt until he broke and then hid _that_ behind the same smile and behind his work and the fighting. The war dragged on and grew and got worse and more _personal_ and Sento had just kept taking the responsibility and blame on himself and bearing it and breaking and kept going anyway.

This is definitely not the time for them to talk about their terrible coping strategies, or for the talk about the mysteries they had and still have, or what happened during the war. It's _very much not the time_ for anyone to bring up that half of those fights… that both of them kept going to the battlefield with no plans to make it out.

It's not the time for that, because they're at a park, the one they stayed in last night, and they should probably find somewhere less public for this because they're two sobbing wrecks who can't explain this to anyone else. They can barely explain it to themselves.

* * *

"We're out of our element here, aren't we? Listen, man, you can't lose yourself to this, okay? Who else'll be the brains of this outfit? Pretty sure we're both screwed if it's me."

He chuckles, half-hearted and hoarse and so tired. Looks like he'll have to take the lead for a while.

"This is messed up, I know. So just… take your time and breathe, okay? When you're ready, we can go and… I dunno, find some of these other Riders, maybe? And we can try to get some answers.

"Just don't _go_ , okay? We're in this together, Sento, we _have_ to stick together.

"We're all we've got."

* * *

(first chapter originally posted on September 2, 2018 on my tumblr, Sailor-Cresselia. This version has been edited for grammar and to be part of a multi-chapter fic.

Cross-posted to my Ao3, SailorCresselia)


	2. Hitting the road

They've decided to head to Zawame City first, in their search for answers. Seeing as the only Rider they met that came to _their_ world was Gaim, his allies might know something about dimensional travel. Or, at least, how the heck he had pulled it off.

The reports of the city having been at war with itself didn't hurt the decision either – they might be able to find someone to help them with the more… mundane stuff they're dealing with. Mundane meaning 'we have been used as weapons in a war and cannot deal with what happened,' as opposed to the other problems. Problems such as 'we're literal superheros from another reality,' the incredibly specific 'one of us is sort of half space alien and we're both kinda worried that jumping realities didn't actually deal with that the way we'd hoped,' and the _technically_ mundane but also _really hard to explain_ 'we both keep trying to sacrifice ourselves first so that the other guy doesn't have to.'

Neither of them is okay, and they are both well aware of it. So many things have happened to them, and with maybe a single semi-decent coping mechanism between them, they need help.

Said "coping mechanism" is currently "Ryuga taking over the decision-making role and both of them trying to make sure Sento doesn't shut down completely again." They _really_ need help, and they know it.

The fact that they've been here before both helps the situation and makes it harder.

It helps in that there are a handful of people here who they've met, and might be able to find.

It makes it harder because among that handful is a pair of Riders that were separated for one week and for two years at the same time because of Katsuragi.

Because of Sento.

They had thought about the Kaiser System more often, back when they were home, because that was relevant and kept showing up.

But there was still the fact that, when trying to head off the dual Mogamis, Katsuragi had gone to a parallel world – this world – and stolen Ex-Aid's powers and inadvertently stranded Para-DX in theirs.

And Sento _had_ thought that was just a bizarre dream of a memory that somehow passed to him through the bottle. They hadn't found out that the previous Build and the current Build were originally the same person until _after_ everyone went home.

They'll have to meet them eventually, especially if they're looking into other Riders, but Sento doesn't see any way that the conversation will end well. Ryuga's more optimistic, because they _know_ they fixed that problem, but the guilt is still there.

So then. They landed closer to the city they'd been in before, but getting any help there was not an option at the moment. Zawame City it is.

Or… it _would_ be, if it weren't so damned far away. At least they have transportation.

During the war, Sento had upgraded the motorcycle to not need a fullbottle to run – they didn't exactly always have bottles to spare during the war, and it's even more practical now that they only have the two.

* * *

During a lull back home, Kazumin had asked how the bike worked – completely missing the "shut up" motions Misora and Sawa were making behind Sento.

"I could not explain it if I tried."

Having clearly not learned his lesson, Kazumin asked _Katsuragi_ during that… whole thing.

Katsuragi barely slept that night, and by morning 'only' had this to say.

"I have no idea what he did, or how he did it, but this bike, for all intents and purposes, should not work. I couldn't get any of my designs to change into a _phone_. I designed a version, yes, but could only make it compress to the size of a _suitcase_. It _used_ to run on Nebula Gas, but now it _plugs in_ as a phone, _charges_ as a phone, and _runs_ as a phone _and_ a bike _off the same charge_. This should not work, but it does, and I don't know what he did or how he did it because half of the documentation is… His documentation for every single thing he made is complete except for _this one project_. I don't know how he managed to make actual scribbles appear as text on a computer but he _did_ and-"

At that point Katsuragi lapsed into frustrated and confused mumblings that no one else could really make out or understand.

Later, once Sento was back: "Your bike made the other guy cry."

"I told you – I couldn't explain if I tried."

* * *

The boys have been on the road for a few days. Zawame is a lot further than they thought, and they've gotten lost. Several times. They're _pretty_ sure they're going the right way this time, though. But then the storm hits.

It's not a giant, natural disaster level storm, but still large enough that being outside in it is a bad idea. And they're on a motorcycle. Not exactly an ideal situation. So, they find a large tree off to the side of the road. Also not exactly ideal, but they don't know how far from any actual shelter they are, and right now almost anything is better than being out on the road in this.

About a half hour after they stop, someone actually drives by. Then stops. Pulls a U-turn that may or may not be legal. And drives over and pulls up to them.

"Hey, are you guys okay? You, uh, you look like you've lost your way."

Sento's half asleep – might actually have been entirely asleep for once if it weren't for the thunder. Still, exhaustion seems to have lowered some of the walls he's put up, so he chuckles tiredly. "In more ways than one."

"Would you guys like a ride? I'm headed to meet up with some of my friends, so I can get you to the city if you want a lift."

Sento looks to Ryuga, and mumbles, "I'll follow your lead."

Ryuga hesitates. They haven't been having the easiest time trusting anyone here – not when they can't really explain what they're doing on the streets without looking like they're either lying or nuts.

But it's the middle of a storm, and they'll need somewhere to sleep tonight; and this guy has a car and can at least help them get somewhere that's dry. It's going to take time to find someone in the city who will be able to answer some of the more sciencey, conspiracy-theory-sounding, questions, and they're going to need to scope out the area and find where they can pick up odd jobs so that they don't, you know, starve.

"That'd be great, man."

* * *

On the way to the monthly get-together, it started to rain. And rain. And rain some more. Driving past a tree-lined section just outside the Zawame limits, Shinnosuke Tomari sees two men huddled under a tree, with an eccentric looking motorcycle supporting one end of a make-shift tarp.

' _What are they doing? If they'd kept going, they could get somewhere dry, so they probably don't know how close to the city they are...'_

This is Shinnosuke. _Of course_ he goes to help.

"Hey, are you guys okay? You, uh, you look like you've lost your way."

One of them, who was leaning on his friend for… support? (Sleep? Both? Probably both) chuckles emptily. "In more ways than one."

' _Well, doesn't that sound familiar.'_

"Would you guys like a ride? I'm headed to meet up with some of my friends, so I can get you to the city if you want a lift."

The one who spoke before looks over and murmurs _something_ to the other, who smiles a lopsided grin that only looks half forced, and replies that would be great.

Shinnosuke grins back, and to his credit only blinks a little when the tired one in a scarf shrinks the bike into a phone.

"Nice trick. I have some friends who could have used that a couple times."

The one who'd grinned, with side-braids, looks at him a little warily. "Makes getting out in a hurry easier."

' _Lost in more ways than one, huh? That and needing to get out in a hurry means they've definitely been in trouble of some sort, but what type?'_

Braids is trying to roll up the 'tarp', but it's not happening. It looks like they were trying to use a blanket for a roof, but it's soaked through. "No, don't – don't bother with that. Hang on." Shinnosuke gets out and opens the trunk. "We can stash that in here, and get it cleaned later. I've got some towels and a couple of blankets, too, so you guys can dry off."

"Thanks." Scarf-guy says quietly. "You're pretty prepared."

"Well, you never know what's going to happen. Some of my worst days have been in rain like this. Do you want to hold onto those bags, or put them in the trunk too?" They each have a pack slung over their shoulders, both of them narrow enough that they don't look like they could hold much. _'Looks like the type Go always wears. Somehow I doubt they've got cameras in there.'_

"We'll hold onto them, thanks." That's Braids – Scarf had stiffened at Shinnosuke's question and was clutching at the strap on his.

"That's fair. You can put them on the floor, then. There should be enough room. So," he asks as they climb into the back seat, "what brings you to Zawame?"

Scarf appears to have hit his interaction limit for the day and lost either the ability or the will to talk, much to Braids' apparent dismay. So while Scarf is attempting to make himself at least a little dryer, Braids picks up the conversation.

"Research, I guess. We're trying to find answers about some stuff."

"If you don't have a place to stay-" They both flinch at that, so no they don't. "-you can come with me. If you want info on Zawame City, my friends are some of the people who know it best."

"We couldn't put you out like tha-"

"I insist. Helping is my _job_ , and it kind of sounds like you guys need some."

' _Speaking of what they need...'_ It's not late or anything, it's barely even afternoon and it's only dark at all because of the rain, but Scarf is clearly dead on his feet and Braids doesn't seem much better off. He's doing a good job of hiding it, but it doesn't look like either of them have been getting much rest for a while.

"It'll be a while before we get to the Kureshimas, they live on the other side of the city. You two should probably get some rest."

Scarf nods reluctantly, and slowly lays his head on Braids' shoulder. Braids makes no moves to sleep. "What's your angle?"

Shinnosuke chuckles. "There's no angle; if I see someone in trouble, I help." He's started driving, so it's not like Shinnosuke can _turn around_ , but he _can_ look back at them from the mirror. Scarf is already out like a light, and Braids is looking at Shinnosuke with a combination of doubt and suspicion.

' _Moment of truth time.'_

"Whether I can transform or not, I will _always_ help people who need it."

Braids starts. "You're-"

"Detective Shinnosuke Tomari, Kamen Rider Drive. May I ask your names? _I'm_ on public record, but I know how anonymity can be a big deal. So, you don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to, but it helps to have something to call you, at least."

"… … Ryuga Banjou, Kamen Rider Cross-Z. This guy's Sento Kiryu, Kamen Rider Build. How could you tell?"

"Well, a bunch of little things, even just over a few minutes." Shinnosuke looks back at the two strays. Scarf – no, _Kiryu_ , was out cold on Brai- _Banjou's_ shoulder. "The transforming bike, for one. You were willing enough to put the blanket away, even when you guys don't seem to have much, but… Kiryu, you said?" Banjou nods. "He froze when I mentioned storing the bags. That means they're important. Go – Kamen Rider Mach – uses one just like that to carry his Driver.

"Is he – are the two of you okay?" Shinnosuke asks. "You said you were heading to Zawame for answers, but there hasn't been any activity here for a while now, Rider wise."

"There…" Banjou sighs. "There was a war. The websites we looked at made this place look like the Best Match to what we were dealing with. And the reports we could find said that… uh, Gaim? I think his name was? He was the first Rider here to show up. We figured his friends might know something about other dimensions and stuff since he somehow showed up in our world."

"Showed up in-? Oh, man." Shinnosuke groans, starting to pull the car back over. "That kid is way overpowered. What happened here isn't my story to tell, but the city was recovering when I was starting out. When we met, he introduced himself as, and I quote, 'Some sort of space god.'"

Banjou flinches at the term 'space god', which can't indicate anything good. _'Oh boy. Probably shouldn't mention the rest of the Megahex incident then.'_

"You said he showed up in _your_ world. Are you stuck here?"

"…"

"Alright then. If you don't mind, I'm going to call ahead, and put it on speaker. It'll help when we get to the others if everyone enters this on the same page."

"Others?"

"My friend, the guy I said you'd want to ask about what happened in Zawame, is a Kamen Rider too. Pretty much everyone that's going to be there is, actually, or they work with Riders. The call will just be the three of us, though. Four, if Kiryu wakes up while we're talking."

"There's going to be a lot of people there?"

"Well, it depends on the turnout. There's usually a good number when we get together in Zawame, since we usually meet at the Kureshima brothers' home, and they downsized a while back, but they still have a good amount of space. A lot of times, people wind up staying through the weekend.

"Oh, right, of course you wouldn't know. Since late last year, a lot of us – Kamen Riders, that is – have been getting together to meet up each month. It's part socializing, part trading stories, part group therapy. We've." Shinnosuke sighs. "We've all been through a lot. I'll be honest with you, a lot of it is us helping each other recover. This should have started happening a long time ago.

"Hojo-san – Kamen Rider Ex-Aid – got it all started after last December, when there was another Earth that was apparently under threat of being merged with this one."

"After – shit. Shit shit _shit_." Banjou pales. He looks at Kiryu, who's still asleep, and then back up at Shinnosuke.

' _Oh, that is not a good reaction.'_

In a deathly serious tone, Banjou asks "Are Ex-Aid or Para-DX going to be there?"

"I don't know, I'd have to ask. Did… they do something to one of you?" Shinnosuke can't see Emu doing anything that would bring out that kind of reaction, but Parad made a number of enemies among the public by reputation. _'It's odd enough that he knows about Parad in the first place. Most of us hadn't heard of him until they started making the rounds to get us all going.'_

"Not them, it's more the other way around. …Mistakes were made. And… and that 'other Earth' was ours. You should make that phone call."


	3. Out of the storm

Shinnosuke circles through the city during the conversation – both to let Ryuga tell him and Takatora what he could, and to give Sento some clearly much-needed sleep. Neither look like they'd slept much in the month that they'd been here, especially given what Ryuga had let them know.

And it was what he had _let_ them know, too. He was honest about what happened – but he kept it to _just_ what happened to the two of them. When he _had_ to mention anyone else, he wouldn't use their names. He spoke so fondly of the people they had worked and lived with, but he used euphemisms and titles and kept the details hidden.

"Our reporter friend." "Night Rogue" for the enemy and "Rogue" for the hero. "Farmer" for the civilian and "Grease" for the Rider. "Mii-tan" for the girl – and that was clearly a nickname they had used, but not one that could reveal her name.

It looked like it hurt him to not say their names, but also that he thought it was best not to. He told them about what happened to Sento, about his amnesia and being tricked and a bit about who he had been – but wouldn't use his old name, as if even that would reveal too much.

They were from another world, and he wouldn't use his friends' names, which probably meant that _they_ were here, too, but didn't know the two of them.

The being that they had been fighting, though. He named this 'Evolt' freely, so Ryuga clearly didn't think he was in this world.

Given the bare-bones description of what had been done to them, and what had happened to land them here, the venom in his voice was very, very justified.

But one of the most troubling parts of the story was how he referred to himself. Ryuga described himself as 'the sidekick,' and Sento as 'the only real hero.'

Ryuga's description of their relationship was… worrying. He kept saying things like how he was "just the muscle-headed assistant." That he had ragged on Sento, but "this guy's always been the hero. He was fighting for 'Love and Peace' and all that, ya know? I was just… angry."

That might have been true in the beginning, but it flat out _doesn't_ match up with the later parts of their story, which bothers Shinnosuke, and from how Takatora asked questions after that, it was probably bothering him too. They were clearly _partners_ , and _equals_ , and he wonders what Sento would be saying if he was the one who was awake instead.

As the discussion begins to wind down, finally reaching the topic of the past month, Takatora remarks "Alright. I think that's all we can discuss over a phone, without being face to face. Tomari, how long until you arrive?"

"We're about ten minutes away. We'll wake Kiryu up and clue him in on what the plan is. See you soon." With that, Shinnosuke pulls over to hang up the phone.

Ryuga looks at him. "You're a terrible liar."

"What do you mean?"

Ryuga scoffs. "You said at the start we were headed for 'the other side of town.' I'm terrible with maps, but I'm not Ka-" he cuts himself off, grimacing. "I can't read a map, but I can tell where I've already been. You've driven past that train station three times now."

"Are you upset?"

"..." Ryuga looks at Sento, still sound asleep. "...No. I'm not. Thank you."

Shinnosuke smiles. "No problem. We're Riders, after all. It's what we do."

Ryuga shifts a bit, to get his other arm free so that he could reach Sento, tapping him on the shoulder. He had been lost to the world almost as soon as they got in the car.

* * *

"Hey, Sleeping Brainiac, we're almost there."

Sento blinks, and attempts to bolt upright into a fighting pose. Seeing as he is buckled into the back seat of a car, he winds up knocking his head on the roof and whacking Ryuga in the jaw.

"Oh my god I'm sorry-"

Ryuga shakes his head, smirking. "Don't worry. I've had worse and you know it. We're almost done."

Sento rubs at his eyes, trying to get some semblance of coherency. He looks out the window, and then notices that they are, in fact, in a car. As opposed to under a tree, which is the last place he really remembers being. "Wait, where are we?"

The driver, who Sento _vaguely_ remembers picking them up in the rain, laughs a little. "I'm sorry, I guess you fell asleep before we did introductions, didn't you? Banjou here told me a bit of the story you two have. I expect there's a lot he didn't say."

Ryuga shrugs. "Didn't want to go into detail without my genius boss awake to make sure I don't get everything wrong."

Behind the wheel, the driver frowns, as if he somehow doesn't think that's right. Sento's not sure what to make of it, either.

' _This guy…_ _who is he?'_ Sento belatedly notices that he knocked a blanket off when he woke up. ' _That's not ours, which means it's_ his _, and it's clearly not brand new, which means he already had it with him. Probably prepared for a lot of things, then. He's wearing a suit, and this is a pretty nice car, so he's some sort of professional. But he was driving in the middle of a storm… a storm that's still going, and he picked up two complete strangers off the road. Why?'_

"What are you getting out of this?"

They've started moving – he must have pulled over so Ryuga could wake Sento up – so he looks at them from the mirror. "I'm getting the two of you out of the rain, and helping you. That'd be reason enough. But." He sighs a little. "But I wish we'd found you sooner. I hear -"

"We?" ' _He's part of a group, then.'_

"Yes, we. Banjou says you came to Zawame City looking for fellow Riders. We've all been keeping our eyes out for our successors, and it looks like I found you. The names Shinnosuke Tomari, Kamen Rider Drive. Pleased to meet you."

Oh. Sento thought he'd woken up, but he is clearly not awake enough to deal with this. _'That's right, he wasn't surprised by the bike, was he? If he's a Kamen Rider I guess that makes sense.'_

"Anyway, we're on our way to a Rider get-together. We've been doing these for a little while now – a way for Riders to meet up and talk, warn each other of issues, and have ways to help each other out with our assorted hang-ups and problems. Those of us who can still transform intend to act as backup for recurring battles, when they can." Shinnosuke chuckles. "It's been described as a 'social club for superheroes,' and that's really a pretty accurate description."

Sento blinks. "Sounds like a good idea. You said 'those of us who can still transform.' That implies you can't. Can I ask why?"

Shaking his head, Shinnosuke replies. "Well, I can't now, not without my partner. He… left, after everything ended. Things have happened to reunite us, a few times, but he hasn't been around for about a year and a half now.

"I miss him, you know? He helped me get back in gear after some really tough times, and I owe him for that. So, I try to pay that forward wherever I can. Not just as a Rider, or as a cop, but getting people going." He smiles wistfully. "I wouldn't have met my wife if it weren't for him, either, to say nothing of being a father.

"Ha, sorry, I got distracted. That happens a lot around here. Post-occupational hazard, honestly." Shinnosuke shrugs. "All of us have gone through a lot, and talking about it is largely part of why we started this, but it's really easy to get carried away.

"We can pick this up later, though. We're here."

* * *

Shinnosuke and his strays pull up to the Kureshima residence. It's not the giant mansion they used to live in – Takatora had put a significant amount of their resources towards restoring the city. But it's still nice, and has enough room that when the riders get together in Zawame, they're the hosts.

The three get out of the car, and head over. Takatora opens the door before anyone can knock. "Shinnosuke. Good to see you. And you two must be Banjou and Kiryu?" He nods in their direction.

"Ah, yes." Sento nervously manages to say. "Thank you for having us."

"It's no problem at all. It's the least I could do, honestly." Takatora replies. "Please, come in. The rain's probably going to pick back up soon." He leads the two inside, with Shinnosuke bringing up the rear.

Takatora watches them as they enter.

Sento is hunched defensively, his expression wary, and he's holding onto his bag like his life depends on it. _'Banjou said that they're keeping their Drivers in those, and that they don't have much else. I can't blame him for clinging to it.'_

And speaking of… Ryuga was tense, too, but in more of a coiled, 'ready to fight at any time' way. His gaze was darting around, probably looking for any possible problem.

' _They're hiding it well, but they're both nervous. Given what we already know… that makes sense.'_

"Banjou told Shinnosuke and I some of what the two of you went through. Believe me, you are not the only people here who have been used as weapons without realizing it. That's a common thread among Riders – we all have ties to our opponents."

Sento smiles sadly. "I'm probably the only one who built all of the weapons though."

Ryuga shoves him lightly. "C'mon, man, we've talked about this. You and me, _and_ the other guy were all being tricked by that black hole bastard."

Takatora frowns. "I made the decisions that led to a lot of our problems. You. Are not. Alone. Now, come on. Would the two of you like to get cleaned up? We can get you some things to wear that aren't soaked through, as well."

Both of them look relieved at that. Sento's the one who answers. "Yes, _please_."

* * *

Some time passes. Sento and Ryuga are slowly starting to relax – little by little. Not many people were there, it turns out. A lot of people had commitments for work, or in some cases had dropped off of the radar again. More people were supposed to show up for the larger meeting tomorrow.

Takeru – Ghost – was there though, and they had met him before, so that was something. He promised that he would "introduce you guys to Makoto and Alain tomorrow, I think you'll like them."

There were two others as well, a pair of detectives. That introduction went… oddly.

One, wearing a waist-coat, starts off doing the talking. "Hey. This here is Phillip," he jerks his thumb towards a guy with his nose in a book, who's paying no attention to the surroundings, "and I'm Shotaro Hidari. Kamen Rider Double."

Ryuga looks at them. "So, is he your 'plus one', or something?"

"Agh, no, we're both Double." Shotaro sighs. "We get that a lot when introductions go around..."

"If you would stop being so ambiguous when you introduce us, we wouldn't. Really, Shotaro. It's not like I'm in hiding anymore." Phillip doesn't look up from his book, but waves. "Phillip Hidari, _also_ Kamen Rider Double. We're the two-in-one detective and Kamen Rider." He pauses, considering. "Although in certain circumstances, I _would_ be his 'plus one,' as you put it. I'm not sure which circumstances it would apply to in our case, though, since we're partners in both of our jobs, but there must be some times when the other partner aspect would come into play..."

"Oi, don't get started on a new topic!" Shotaro sputters, starting to blush. "You are _supposed_ to be interacting with people here!"

"I am. I'm multitasking." Phillip glances up from the book. "Ryuga Banjou… are you a boxer, or are you in mixed martial arts?"

"Uh… I _was_ a boxer, but I'm. Kinda retired." Ryuga wrinkles his nose. "Why?"

"Just cross-referencing. Don't mind me." He looks back down at his book briefly, before looking back up towards Shinnosuke. "By the way, the Terui's are planning to be here tomorrow, assuming nothing comes up." And back down he goes.

Sento looks between the two detectives. "You're the same Rider? How is that possible?"

Shotaro grins. "We'll show you later. The demo looks better outside."

"How very half-boiled of you."

"You love the aesthetic too, and you know it."

Phillip smirks, making a 'so-so' gesture, causing Shotaro to slump in defeat.

Blinking, Sento turns to Shinnosuke. "Are they always like this?"

"This is nothing. Just wait until their boss gets here."

* * *

Overall, everyone kept the atmosphere light – Ryuga suspects that Takatora had warned them to, and honestly doesn't care. _'_ _If_ _it'll help_ _S_ _ento adjust, then good.'_

It was going well. It really, really was.

And then the flatscreen turned itself on, and broke into yellow static.

The static spread in front of the tv, bulging, and then burst like a bubble, leaving behind a person. A person who stumbled into the chair that Ryuga had just vacated.

(No, he did not yelp like a little girl, _thank you very much_. He yelped like _himself_ , it's just that his voice gets high-pitched sometimes when he's startled, _okay_? Okay.)

Takeru goes to help Sento, while Shinnosuke helps Ryuga from where the two had gotten tangled up. (Jump scares are the worst, alright, he is _never_ going to get used to them, shut _up_ Hidari.)

Meanwhile, Takatora just sighs. "Kujo. Why are you here? Your team called out, you said you were all busy. Also, why did you screenwalk in?

"Yeah, I know, we were going to a tournament." Kiriya acknowledges. "Well, I say we. I just went as a spectator and supportive roommate. The guys and Nico were actually entering. But the storm knocked out the power to the convention center, and the whole thing wound up getting postponed. So, we figured we might as well come here."

"And the teleport?" Takatora asks dryly.

"We've been out at the door for ten minutes. I came looking for you."

"...Oh. That's. That's fair." Takatora rubs at his forehead. "I'll go let them in. Who else is with you?"

"Just Emu, Parad, and Nico. Mind if I hang out here?"

"Fine, yes, okay, sure. Just… apologize to these two, you nearly landed on them." Takatora snaps as he walks off. "That's a great first impression to give them of all of us, they were just calming down, this is just perfect..."

"Para- oh, no." Sento whispers, freezing where he was still getting up from the floor. "No, no no..."

"Dude, we knew we were going to see them eventually." Ryuga murmurs.

"Yes, but not yet..."

"I'm sorry about that, you guys. I didn't see you there. I know, I know, I really need to work on my landings." Kiriya says, not having noticed who he was talking to. "Oh, wait, Takatora said something about a first impression? Are you guys new? Well, welcome to rider-hood, for what it's worth."

"Kiriya," Takeru manages to get a word in. "They're not new _as riders_. They're new here."

"Eh?" Kiriya finally takes stock of the room. "Oh, hey, it's you! Nice to see you again, Banjou. Been a while.

"...Wait. You guys were from that other world, weren't you? How'd you get here?"

Sento's started to fold in on himself. "Not now, not yet..."

"It's a long story," Ryuga replies to Kiriya, before turning back to Sento. "Hey, man, don't shut down on us," he pleads. "Come on, stick with me."

Shinnosuke looks at them, worried. "Is this about when you were here before?"

Sento nods mutely. He sinks to the floor, head in his hands. Both are in his hair, messing it up. One is more open, at the base of a flyaway section. The other is curled into a fist.

A voice carries from the hall. "I can't believe I'm the one saying this, but you guys are taking this way too personally."

"But Nicooo..."

"it's a crime!"

"We thought this city-"

"-was supposed to be prepared-"

"-for things like this!"

"Why did this one storm-"

"-knock out the whole center?"

"Oh god would you two stop doing the twin thing?"

"Sorry, Nico." a pair of voices chorus.

"Seriously, how am I the one being rational about this?" Nico says, exasperated, as the three walk in.

"That's probably mostly my fault." Parad admits, shrugging. "Hey everyone." He waves.

Emu waves as well. "Sorry for dropping in."

"Oh!" Parad is the first to notice the two new additions. "It's you! Sento!" He grins. "It's been a while!"

Sento stops moving. Ryuga crouches next to him, an arm hovering around Sento's shoulder. "Sento…? You there?"

"…sorry."

' _Uh-oh.'_ "Sento?"

"…sorry about this..."

Sento shoves Ryuga off of him, knocking him to the ground with a burst of silvery light. He turns, not looking up, and runs for the door. Emu and Parad dodge out of the way, Emu pulling Nico along with him. Sento goes past them and the now-returning Takatora, blindly running down the hall.

Ryuga coughs. "Shit… ugh, god that hurts… damnit..." He coughs again, trying to catch his breath. "Damnit, Sento..."

"You okay there?" Kiriya goes to join Shinnosuke in helping Ryuga up.

"I've had worse, it's fine. Just got the wind knocked out of me, that's all," he wheezes. "Argh, so that's what my punches feel like. Ow… I apologize to almost everyone I have ever fought..."

"Seriously, are you okay? That looked like a bad hit." Emu starts to walk over, ready to help, but Ryuga waves him off.

"I'll _deal_ , it's not important," Ryuga growls. "Someone needs to go after Sento." He points toward Emu and Parad. "Not one of you two, someone else. I couldn't – ow – couldn't see, was there any gold light or anything like that when he ran?"

"No, just whatever that was _when he punched you_ ," Emu replied, exasperated. "Why would he do that?"

"The guy panicked when he heard you were coming, Ace." Kiriya mentions. "What _happened_ after you two went home?"

"Ugh, later. Someone go get Sento already!" Ryuga tries to yell, but it comes out rough. "If there wasn't gold, then he isn't using his bottle, just mine. He's fast, but he won't be as fast as he could be."

"Someone's already going after him." Takatora holds up his phone. "I'm sorry that I didn't tell you, but there was another person on the phone call earlier. Mitsuzane – my younger brother – was listening as well. He thought that staying in reserve would be a good idea, just in case something happened. Looks like he was right. Now. What. Happened?"

"Fine, alright, I get it, you're not letting it go," Ryuga mumbles. "Look. Back in December, I accidentally came over here, to this world. The, uh, the tall guy over there, you're the guy who was in ours, right?"

Parad nods. "Yeah, I followed the guy who was apparently Build first over to your world – which kinda sucks, by the way – and wound up being there for two years. Came from our 2017, landed in your 2015, and didn't find Sento until your 2017."

"He told you about the amnesia, right? He said he had, anyway."

"Yeah, he did," Parad frowns. " _After_ I slammed him against a wall to try and get Emu's power back… I need to apologize for that again, that first Build was doing his best to stop that Mogami guy."

Ryuga groans. "Heh, 'first Build was doing his best.' Story of our lives. Takumi Katsuragi was his name."

"Sorry, what? The guy they called the devil's scientist?" Parad says skeptically. "He was the Build we fought?"

"For a while. Until 2016. Then he had the bright idea of trying to take down said devil before the black hole bastard could finish his plan. He – Katsuragi got played. As far as the world was concerned, he died and I was the one who killed him.

"And neither of those things were true.

"The body they found was really someone named Taro Satou, who got his looks swapped with Katsuragi. I got framed for the murder, and spent a year in jail. Katsuragi wound up getting one of his own experiments run on him, and had his memories erased for good measure."

A silence falls over the room. (Shinnosuke absent-mindedly rubs behind his ear. Ryuga hadn't _mentioned_ before that the amnesia was something that had been _forced_ on Sento, as opposed to being an accident. Off to the side of the room, Phillip looks up from his book and frowns.)

"You need to know." Ryuga finally manages to straighten up from where he had been hunched over. "Katsuragi was well-meaning, yeah, but was absolutely terrible at going about it. The 'sacrifices must be made for the greater good' type. Sento. Is. Not. Him. He is his own person, and we all told him this, over and over, and he _still_ blames himself for everything that Katsuragi did.

"We screwed up, both of us. A lot." He grunts, trying to stand up. "But Sento's been taking responsibility for what the other guy did, even though he _shouldn't_ , and I need to go find him before he does something incredibly reckless and dumb. Again." Ryuga gets to his feet, but immediately goes back down to one knee. "Shit… damnit man..."

"Identity issues, huh."

"Eh?" Ryuga looks up. Parad is facing the door.

"Emu. Kiriya. Keep him here, would you? I'm going after Sento." Parad takes a step, and disappears in a cloud of red and blue specks of light.

* * *

(Yes, I know Freeze's power didn't work on Shinnosuke. It worked on A LOT of people, though, and I figure there's still a scar there. It's an uncomfortable topic.)  
(Yes, Phillip and Shotaro are married. It was only a matter of time. A story for that is in the works.)


	4. Information Exchange

He has to get out of here. He's not _ready_ , what happened to them was all his fault; was his fault twice over, because Katsuragi had helped design Enigma in the first place, and then stolen Ex-Aid's power when he had second thoughts.

That's just another failure on Sento's back, he had run and left the problem behind for someone else to finish. _Again._

( _'You're not him.'_ a little voice that sounds like Ryuga reminds him.)

( _'_ _We're_ _still_ _the same mind.'_ rebutts a little voice that sounds like Katsuragi.)

( _'Shut up shut up shut up!'_ chants the voice that sounds like Sento.)

(It's not Ryuga, he's back in another room where Sento left him behind. It's not Katsuragi, he cut his losses and left. It's all Sento, and he's making excuses to himself.)

"I have to – I have to get out of here, I can't _stay_ here, they're going to know _it was me_ and they need to know that and they were nice when they thought it was someone else but it _wasn't_." He heads out the front door, not bothering to close it behind him. "They don't need this, don't need me here reminding them of everything that went wrong and I can't put them through that again. Where's the bike, I though I had it-" Sento stops abruptly in the driveway, having not really _noticed_ that he was outside. "Son of a-"

He drags his hand down his face. He's not wearing _his_ clothes, they're in the _wash_ because they were gross. These are borrowed, so none of his few things are in his pockets. "I put the phone in my _bag_ that I didn't grab when I ran, like an _idiot._ "

It's still raining.

"This is terrible." Sento pants, leaning on a low wall. He'd bolted, _again_ , and he used to be better at sprinting, but that month on the road with not enough to eat and even less rest has apparently ruined _that_.

"Are you okay there?"

Sento looks up at the quiet voice. It's a young man carrying an umbrella. He's about the same build as Sento, so these are probably his clothes that he's borrowing.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Fine. Great, even." Sento lies through his teeth.

The other man shakes his head. "No, you're not. I've seen that type of face in the mirror and told people that far too many times for anyone to sell me on it.

"It was a rhetorical question, anyway. I needed to get your attention somehow. Was it that there were too many people in there?"

"No, no, it's not that." Sento reluctantly answers. "It's me, it's all on me, _because_ I ran, and I keep running away, it's the things he did and the things I did and I keep running from the messes we both made." His voice speeds up. "This keeps happening and I keep messing it up and I always either leave or I just _stop_ or I try to fix it in the worst ways and I _know_ I shouldn't because I'm _supposed_ to be smarter than this but I'm apparently really not and-"

He catches himself there, rewinds his runaway train of thought, and his shoulders slump. "And I'm just doing it again, aren't I..."

The stranger's expression has been neutral throughout this 'discussion.' Not in a way that doesn't _care_ , like it could have been towards someone who is basically a random, ranting stranger. It's neutral in the way that, looking back, Sawa or Utsumi often were – the way that says someone has practiced for a very, very long time to not let their emotions show.

In the span of an eyeblink, that enforced neutrality is replaced by something that might be sympathy? Empathy? Sento's… admittedly not always great at reading individual emotions, honestly, but maybe it's understanding?

"I get where you're coming from. Like I said, seen it in the mirror, and said it too many times. My name's Mitsuzane, Armored Rider Ryugen. Just call me Micchy, though. My brother's the only one who calls me Mitsuzane. Come on, if you need a break you can hang out in my room for a while." He holds out the umbrella, nodding towards the door.

Sento follows after him, looking at this 'Micchy.' _'He can't be more than, what,_ _twenty?_ _What_ happened _here that he would get this? And how does he even know what I'm talking about? Ryuga only told Shinnosuke and Takatora anything, and I_ know _he held back.'_

He realizes he'd zoned out as they walked. "Oh, uh, I'm Sento. I'm really sorry about this."

"Don't be. We've all got our hangups." Micchy leads Sento upstairs. "Here. I'm going to fire off a text, so that the others know where you are, but just head on in."

"...Thanks. Your brother, that's Takatora, isn't it?"

"Yup." Micchy nods, after tucking his phone into his pocket. "In theory, we're _both_ the hosts when everyone meets up here, but I usually don't join in much."

"Why not? You seem like a good guy."

Micchy chuckles dryly, closing the door behind them. "I'm really, really not. I have _never_ been the good brother. But this is _not_ the time to go into the numerous ways I screwed up."

"You messed up too?"

"Ha, in so many ways. I mean, nobody here in Zawame made many _good_ decisions, but I was guilty of some of the worst."

"Are any of them related to why you called yourself an 'Armored Rider'? Gaim was from here, right? He used Kamen Rider, and I heard that Takatora does too."

"It kinda is, it's what we were called here at first. The others who made it through everything use Kamen Rider now, but. I don't think I can ever really _earn_ that title. But honestly, it's been four years since everything here ended. You only 'got out' recently, right?"

"...yeah. Shinnosuke picked us up today, but we've been… traveling. This, uh, this is the first time we've been around this many people for a while."

"I see. What was the tipping point that made you try and run out?"

"...Parad. Not him, it's not his fault, but seeing him again, I mean. I got him trapped on our world – the Earth that Ryuga and I came here from – for two years. I didn't _know_ that it was because of me when I met him, we thought it was someone else, but it really _was_ my fault. And so was so much of what happened back home, including it being _gone_ -"

Sento stops talking, his expression closing off. He slides down to the floor.

"Everyone is _gone_ and it's my fault..."

"Did you mean to?"

"Hm?"

Micchy joins him on the floor. "Whatever it was that happened to your Earth. Was it what you set out to do?"

"There wasn't an option. There should have – I should have found another way to stop him, but there just _wasn't_ one..."

"There you go, then. If you had no other option, if it was that or do nothing, well. Sometimes even a terrible decision is still one you have to make.

"I was on this end of the phone call earlier, when your friend was talking to Takatora and Officer Tomari. So I heard the very… redacted version of what happened. But you needed to say that yourself, right? I _do_ hang back from everyone else, most of the time, but tonight _specifically_ was in case one of you two needed an excuse to get out. I'm sorry that I didn't tell either of you, but you wouldn't have said anything otherwise, would you?"

"No, probably not..." Sento admits. He looks at Micchy. "Are you sure you're not a good guy?"

"I'm the _worst_." Micchy smirks. "I make for a great cautionary tale, though." He looks away from Sento, over towards the door, and speaks a bit louder. "I'm not the only one, though, now am I? You might as well come in now."

Sento freezes as the door opens, revealing a sheepish Parad. "Sorry. I've been out there for a while." He nods at the ground. "Can I join you?"

Sento shrugs, looking down in defeat. Parad joins the two in sitting on the floor. " _None_ of us blame _you_ for what happened. Okay? Especially me and Emu."

"You should, though." Sento mumbles, his shoulders slumped. "Since it turns out it was me after all."

Parad barks out a laugh. "Uh, no. No, you fixed what that Katsuragi guy screwed up, and clearly did a way better job than he would have.

"He knew I went in that wormhole with him, and given the year that went by before he… uh, left, I'm pretty sure he didn't do a thing to find me. When we met? One of the first things you did after I attacked you was get me into a _bed_ when I passed out. If that alone doesn't say that you're two different people I dunno what other proof you need."

"Well, it's not like I could just leave you out there!" Sento shouts. "That'd be wrong!"

"And that," Micchy prods Sento in the chest, "is why you are definitely a better person than either of us were. There was a copious amount of scheming and killing on both of our parts, attempted and ambiguously successful."

"Ambiguously successful?" Sento blinks. "That sounds incredibly fake and like you're making things up to make me feel better."

"Takatora nearly drowned and was in a coma for months." Micchy slides back into that carefully neutral expression from before. "If Kouta hadn't already been turning into an Overlord, he _would_ have died – and it would have been because he was willing to let me kill him so that he could keep me from dying."

Parad pulls one of his knees up to his chest, looking in Sento's direction without meeting his gaze. "I was literally part of Emu for ten years. At least when you became someone new, you got a fresh start. I went the 'vengeance against humanity' route. The first thing I did, as I was being split off from him, was disintegrate four people.

"And later, I did the same thing to a crowd – on purpose, just to goad him into fighting me. I mean, later we found out that they were all technically uploaded to what is basically the cloud, but. Still."

Parad huffs, leaning back against Micchy's desk. "To get me to stop… Emu had to kill me. Or, well, he at least made me think he had killed me. But it's basically the same. I stopped… _being_ for a while." He blinks, and looks slightly down. "You couldn't have. There _were_ no other options."

Sento and Micchy both look at him. Micchy raises his hand, asking "Uh, which of us are you-"

"No, not you guys." Parad waves them off. "I _somehow_ forgot I was keeping the line open. Emu, it was either you kill me or you let Nico die, and you made the right call. … … Look, I'd gone too far by then for you to have any other choice. I had it coming and you know it."

"Parad?" Micchy looks concerned. "Are you there?"

"Hang on. Listen, Emu, we can talk about this later, alright?" Parad turns to look at Sento and Micchy again. "Sorry. Emu and I have been listening to what's going on in each other's conversations.'" He grins. "We're _really_ good at multitasking.

"Speaking of which… just give me a minute." Parad closes his eyes, looking like he's concentrating. When he opens them a minute later, he's frowning. "Sento..."

' _Uh-oh.'_

"Yes?"

"Why would Ryuga say something about you thinking along the same lines about yourself?" Parad growls.

' _Ohhh no.'_

"I am aware I am already going to be in trouble. How much _more_ trouble would I be in if I were to ask _which_ time he was talking about?"

A voice can immediately be heard yelling downstairs.

"What do you mean _which time?!_ "

Micchy looks at Sento. "My money's on a lot more."

* * *

Going back to when Parad went after Sento, in the main room…

"Wait, don't!"

Ryuga tries to lunge after Parad, but is blocked by a quick moving Emu.

"It'll be fine. Parad and Micchy are actually some of the best people here to go after him, when it comes to talking about crushing guilt. Plus, Parad's the one who actually _met_ Sento for the longest of anyone here, outside of you."

"Y-yeah, I get that, fine," Ryuga tries to get around Emu, "but I can't – I can't let him get hurt, I can't make him go through this, it's not like we've got anyone else anymore-"

"Okay, no." Shinnosuke interrupts. "None of that. You've got everyone here. The both of you have people right here, right now, so cut that out."

Ryuga blinks at that. "What?"

"The two of you _aren't alone_ now. It's okay to ask for help. You _both_ can ask for help." Shinnosuke puts his hand on Ryuga's shoulder. "All right? _It's okay_."

"You let us help you before." Emu points out. "We can help you _now_ , too. But not if you and Sento don't talk… to… us…"

Emu looks upward, narrowing his eyes. "I should have found a different option than to make you go through that."

Ryuga looks at him, and then over to Kiriya and Nico. "Is this that thing where he talks to Parad? 'Cause it's kinda weird."

Kiriya rolls his eyes. "This is nothing, I share an apartment with them."

"They finish each other's sentences a lot. It's infuriating." Nico adds. "Oi, Emu!"

"Shush, I'm busy." Emu holds up a finger. "Just give me a minute. Parad, I never should have had to kill you."

"Isn't he a doctor?"

Nico grips one of her sleeves. "There were… extenuating circumstances."

"If I had known about you sooner, I could have helped, or done _something_ , and it wouldn't have had to come to that in the first place. … … No, but that doesn't mean it was okay."

"Um… should we be saying something here?"

Kiriya shakes his head. "Better to just let them get their chat over with."

"… yeah, sure, later." Emu seems to switch his attention back on the original discussion. "Sorry about that. We've had a lot of practice with the whole connection thing, and we can hear what's going on around each other if we're focusing enough."

"What was that all about?"

Emu sighs. "Things were going very wrong, _very_ quickly. With all that was going on, I _wasn't_ left with a choice aside from basically… 'removing' Parad from the scenario."

"That sounds familiar..." Ryuga mumbles. "Sento said something like that about himself."

"I'm sorry, he said _what?_ One moment..." Emu closes his eyes. "Okay, could you repeat that for me?"

Reluctantly, Ryuga complies. "… He thought it would be better if he wasn't around after some of the things that happened..."

"Oh, _really_ now…?" Emu grits out, his forehead wrinkled.

His eyes snap open as he yells up at the ceiling.

"What do you mean, _which time?!_ "

Takatora grimaces. "We'd better get them back down here."


	5. No, there is too much Let me sum up

Once everyone had been brought back downstairs…

"Okay." Shinnosuke looks at Sento and Ryuuga. "Let's start over, from the beginning. And, please, stop leaving things out, okay?"

Sento bites his lip. "Well, twenty-four years ago, this musclehead was born-"

"Oh, come on!"

"I didn't mean that far back..."

"No, no, nope!" Ryuuga all but tackles Sento to the ground. "That's my running gag and you know it!"

"Not here, okay?" He whispers so that only Sento can hear. "Please don't."

"Got it," Sento replies quietly, and then louder, "Yeah, okay, okay, fine. Ow, you're heavy, get off!"

Eventually, they manage to tell some of the major beats of their story.

* * *

"Turns out that all along he was just using us and Mii-tan to purify the bottles for him."

"Well, that'd explain why you were so angry at him when I met you."

"Yeah. Those two bottles he left – the phoenix and robot ones – turned out to be from Hokuto's 'collection.'"

"So, this means we're at the Enigma incident back in December, correct?" Shinnosuke asks.

""Uh-huh.""

* * *

"Wait, you just flat out got my suit when you used the bottles you made from my power?" Emu gapes.

"Yeah, why?"

Takatora shakes his head. "Because since we were active, every time someone has used someone else's power, they get a new form _themed_ after the other guy. The only person we've heard of that wears someone else's suit is that Decade guy, and that was his skillset to begin with."

"What, seriously?"

"I hold the record for most powers borrowed, I think." Takeru pipes up.

"Really?" Emu looks at Takeru. "I wasn't the first?"

He shrugs. "I'd need some time to do the math, so, uh, I'll get back to you on the numbers later..."

* * *

"Hey, when you got here, where _did_ you wind up?"

"…Several meters above a roof."

Multiple people stare at Ryuuga for a moment, before Nico speaks up. "What the actual hell."

"I know, right? Glad I can take a fall."

Emu gazes at him. "Is that what you were thinking when-"

"When OOO jumped off that skyscraper? No, _that_ was absurd." Ryuuga glares at Emu, as if daring him to say something. "What was with that, anyway?"

Emu sighs, replying, "Eiji lost his partner, Ankh, and he's been trying to bring him back for… How long now?"

"Since 2011, I think." Shotaro answers. "He became a Rider right after us, so that sounds about right."

"Seven years, then. According to his friends, he's pretty much always been the type who's way more willing to help everyone that he can, and will do so long before so much as acknowledging that he might need help too." Emu says this very matter-of-factly, but he's distinctly _looking_ at Ryuuga.

"Look, we all probably know what went on that day, so can we just get the rest of this over with?" Ryuuga rushes to say, before anyone can go any further.

"Things… things started getting worse after that, really, so I guess we ought to get this all out there, huh." Sento adds, hand inching up towards his head.

* * *

"...Oh."

"Mm-hm."

"Wow, that's-"

"We know."

"I'm really sorry about that comment upstairs, Sento." Micchy winces. "I didn't even consider the possibility that you'd-"

"It's alright. You _didn't_ know. It's just that... I mean, I know asking... _that_ of Mis- of Mii-tan was wrong, I get that. But before then... Ka- Grease would've been in the right. We were able to become friends later, but he had every right to hate me. He definitely could – probably should have-"

"Stop that!"

The sound of a slap resounds across the room, leaving silence in its wake.

"How many times?" Takeru asks in a monotone, his shaking hand still outstretched. "How many more times did you pull things like that?"

He seems to notice that everyone is staring at him, and goes to sit back down. "How many times did you try to throw yourselves away? _Both_ of you?"

"..." Sento holds his cheek, still stunned.

"...when I got taken over, he tried to get me back. By burning himself out to take Evolt down with him."

"Wait, don't-"

"Sento, you checked out so bad afterwards that Katsuragi was back for like a week. Feel free to tell me I'm wrong, but the only reason you came back was to chew me out."

"Stop it, they don't need to hear this-"

"We had to put a tracker on you, dude!"

"...You're _both_ idiots."

They look back over at Takeru; they'd been getting closer and closer to yelling in each other's faces.

"You can't fix anything – can't help anyone if you're not _around_ _to do it_. Just. Stop it." He's looking down, face hidden behind his hair and hands clenched at his sides. "That's enough."

He stands up and heads toward the door. "Sorry. I'll be back in a little. Just need some air."

"Ah, man, how bad did we just screw up?" Ryuuga grimaces.

Takeru shakes his head. "You just hit some sore spots, that's all. Just give me a few minutes, okay?" With that, he walks out.

"You guys should probably keep going." Emu sighs. "A lot of that probably came a little close to home." Seeing Sento's confusion, he adds "Takeru goes by Ghost for a _reason_."

Ryuuga groans. "Okay, in fairness, _I_ probably should have seen that coming. Thought it was all symbolic or something..."

"Well, it's about fifty-fifty whether our Rider names are incredibly literal or not. Kouta was 'Gaim' because that was our dance team's name, and I got 'Ryugen' because my weapon was a gun that looked like it fired a dragon." Micchy shrugs. "Some people got lucky." He looks over at Kiriya.

"I freely admit that Taiga and I came out on top with our handles."

"Hey, Sento, that reminds me. Where _did_ you pull 'Cross-Z' from?" Ryuuga asks.

Sento shrugs.

"Aw, come _on!_ "

* * *

"I understand why you all called it Pandora's Box. They opened it, and everything terrible came out. Fine. But _why_ ," Takatora asks " _why_ did they think it was a good idea to keep it _on display_ in the first place, to say nothing of _after_ it released the wall?"

"Um, Takatora?"

"Mitsuzane, I know _what_ you are thinking, and I understand _why_. But keep in mind, I am not the _leader of a country_. I also was not hit by what sounds rather like a brainwashing ray."

"Takatora..."

"You know, I'd been _hoping_ that we would have had the most unambiguously threatening enemy, if only so that no-one else _had_ to top it." Takatora leans on a side table. "I didn't think anyone would be _able_ to top it."

"He _has_ a point, you two." Micchy picks up the thread of conversation. "Black holes? Really?"

"Yeah. He took out the moon as a demonstration to humanity, and was erasing sections of Japan to _taunt_ us as we made our way up the tower. We weren't the first planet he attacked, but." Ryuuga growls. "But we made damn well sure we were the last."

"You didn't have to go up there with him, though." Sento adds quietly.

"Yeah, I did. Had to make sure he was gone. _You_ didn't have to follow."

"Of course I had to. We're a _team_ , and we'd already lost way too many people. Why would you think I'd let you go up there alone?"

"'Cause you're _supposed_ to be smarter than that!"

"I thought we've established that I'm actually not?"

"Okay, okay, guys, come on, cut it out!" Emu interjects. "I really don't think anyone can handle any more existential crises tonight."

"Too late. I think you guys broke Takatora." Micchy is trying to get his brothers attention. "At least your guy is gone. Ours is still out there, technically. At least, that's what Kouta told us."

"I'm fine. I just _really_ had hoped we'd have the worst foe for a very, very long time."

"Hey." Takeru speaks up from the doorway. "How many people did you guys say were at that café with you?"

Sento pauses to think. "Toward the end there were six of us total. Why?"

Nodding, Takeru turns. "Mr. Kureshima? I'd like to make a suggestion."

* * *

"Now, we're holding the both of you to this, okay?" Shinnosuke asks.

"Yeah, we get it. Neither of us go anywhere without a babysitter." Ryuuga grumbles.

"It's fair. You're trying to help I and I threw it back in your faces." murmurs Sento.

The two are promptly assaulted by pillows being thrown at them from all around.

"I'm just not sure that turning tonight into a… an actual sleepover was really necessary. It seems… excessive." Takatora sighs. "I know I gave the okay, but still."

"Look." Takeru fixes him with a glare. "It's hard to adjust to suddenly not being surrounded by a crowd of friends. If this is all going be a support group, then it's going to be. A. Support. Group."

"Where did you even _get_ all of this?"

The sound of static can be heard, then "This is the last load, right?"

"That would be us taking advantage of Parad and Kiriya's skills to raid his place." Emu grins, going over to help an equally grinning Parad carry in a stack of blankets. "Thanks for letting us do this!"

Sento watches this. "Is it just me, or are the three of them _really_ excited for this?"

Shotaro sits over with Sento, Ryuuga, and Shinnosuke. "Not just them. Phillip's pumped too." He chuckles. "I get the feeling this is going to be a recurring thing in my future for a while."

"Oh, right, he said something about you two being partners. What way did he mean?"

"We're married. We're _super_ married, he chose me, and that will never cease to amaze me, but..." Shotaro grins. "Neither of us would have it any other way."

Neither of the senior Riders miss how Sento and Ryuuga seem to light up at that.

* * *

 _(Several hours later, late at night)_

Nope. This isn't working. He can't sleep. It's really nice to be comfortable again, but he's too wired.

Sento gives up on the theoretical concept of sleep, and opens his eyes. Looks like there's two other people not sleeping, either. Kiriya is lit by the pinprick of a booklight, and Parad is playing a game of some sort. "Huh? Why are you two up?"

Parad shrugs. "Bugsters don't sleep as much as humans do. Winds up meaning Emu's the only person in the apartment with anything _resembling_ a normal sleep schedule, but it _does_ mean that there's pretty much always someone awake if a call comes in."

Kiriya shrugs. "I'd love to be asleep right now, but it's not happening, apparently. I really miss just plain, old, regular sleep."

"I'd apologize, but that one's more on the literal computer code aspect than anything else."

"Eh, 's a small price to pay for not being dead. Besides, it's been over a year. I'm dealing with it. Get a lot more reading done now."

"...you died?"

" _So_ many people in this room have died, the both of us included." Kiriya pauses. "Actually, I think Emu's pretty much the only one here who _di_ _dn'_ _t_ die to get their absurdly high-powered form."

Sento laughs quietly. "Do you all count death of personality in that?"

"Yeah, why not? We count it for Parad, so we can use it for you, too."

"Hey!"

"Well, am I wrong?" Parad doesn't answer. "Exactly. The record's, like, 98 deaths, though – that's Genm and his stupid zombie obsession – followed at a distant 'either three, five, or seven' for Takeru."

"Wait, Kiriya, I thought we counted that one puzzle trap Genm made as a second for you, so we used it as his second as well... how many is he at?"

"Ah, man, making me do math at this hour?" Kiriya groans. "Okay. There's the time you killed him, where he stayed dead for a while. There's the time me and the others dragged him into his own black hole of despair – that's two. And he's down to 2 remaining spare lives now, from the ninety nine he gave himself. So he's died 97 times since he was brought back initially... which means he's actually at 99."

"This guy died ninety nine times?"

"He COULD have adapted his suit to give him some actual defense at any point, but noooo. Dan Kuroto has an aesthetic, and it is zombies… Wait." Parad stops. "When he started using Dangerous Zombie, he used his own death to _make_ that, from the finisher Emu hit him with." Parad groans. "Which means we should count all the times he didn't stay down while using that, from before I took him out. Great, now we have to do the math on him all over."

Kiriya huffs, spreading his hands. "Don't look at me for references, I was a bit unavailable at that point."

"What about Takeru?" Sento interrupts. "He was pretty adamant on this sleepover thing, is that related?"

"Like Emu said, Takeru's title is Ghost for a reason."

All three look over.

"Sorry Shinnosuke," Kiriya apologizes. "Didn't know you were up."

"I wasn't. I'm a light sleeper – being dad to a one-and-a-half-year old does that. Not like I was exactly a deep sleeper _before_ Eiji – I've been a cop for a while now, and it comes with the territory.

"As for what happened to Takeru, you'd have to ask him. He and his friends got into some really messed up stuff, and I _know_ they aren't telling us everything. He died _before_ he put on the belt, though, he said as much when I met him. That's why he became a Rider in the first place, to try and come back to life. Still, not my story to tell.

"But he grew up at his fathers temple, so he always had a lot of people around. And then once he was a Rider, more kept coming into his life. Back into, in some cases, and they all lived there with him because they didn't have anywhere else to go. Most of them have moved out now, so I think this was as much a chance for him as it was to help you two. He knows what he's talking about with 'suddenly being alone after being in a crowd.'

"How'd you guys even get on this topic?"

"I couldn't sleep, and made the apparent mistake of asking why Kiriya and Parad don't."

"That makes sense. Why are _you_ up, though?"

Sento sighs. "I wasn't nearly this wired earlier, but now? I just can't get my brain to shut up."

Shinnosuke chuckles. "You did get an hour or so on the ride here. It's that and residual nerves, probably. How's Ryuuga?"

"Out like a light. Why?"

"You two have been on the road for a while, and it doesn't look like he's been getting any more rest than you have. Pretty sure he was awake out of spite on the way in. Try to get him to take care of himself better, would you? You _both_ need to."

"Uh. Sure. Thanks?"

"You're welcome. Also, all of us should be asleep – digital folks included. Kiriko's bringing Eiji tomorrow, and Phillip said that the Teruis were coming – which means Haruna's coming along."

"Yessssss!" Kiriya hisses, clicking off his booklight, "the kids are coming!"

"You know Emu's jealous she likes you better than him?"

"That kid liking me is the only good thing to come out of turning into a bike."

"You turn into a _what_?"

"Talk later, you three."

"Uggggh. Fine." Parad turns down the light to his game. "Let me finish this fight. Can't save in the middle of a battle."

"Um, Shinnosuke? Does it ever stop being weird around here?"

"Parad! We forgot to add in his count before the reset!"

"Oh nooooo..."

"Not really, no. Get some sleep, Sento."

* * *

 _(Half of the people here didn't exactly have childhoods conducive to sleepovers, so they are all super pumped, despite being grown men.)_

 _With regards to Takeru dying 'either 3, 5, or 7 times', I figure there are actually a few different ways to tally up his deaths. Three would be the number of times he is straight up killed - the first time, the one that led to getting Infinite, and the Doctor Pac-man incident. Five is the usual count - which adds in when he reaches his first deadline, and the 100 Eyecons movie. Seven? That's if we include the times he gave up his chance at revival so that someone else could have their own - when he reached his second deadline, and, for reasons that he won't tell anyone else, he has started counting the events of 100 Eyecons_ twice _._


	6. A Good Morning

Come morning, a pair of voices rouse Ryuuga.

"-ink we should let them sleep some more."

"How ha-"

"If you say half-boiled I'm filing for divorce."

"Still, it's not as if we really have a choice. Everyone else is at the park already."

"Yeah, yeah, I know."

Ryuuga twitches, trying to bury his face in the pillow. _'_ _Hnnn. Gotta be dreaming. Come on, five more minutes of a comfortable dream, then back up, back on the road, get somewhere new...'_

"Hey, guys, time to wake up."

Ryuuga twitches once more, and frowns. _'Fine then. Was great while it lasted.'_

He rolls upright, and blinks confusedly. "What the-"

"Morning, guys. You sleep well?"

He takes stock of his surroundings. He's in a pretty good sized living room, with a bunch of futon mats and blankets piled up around the sides. He and Sento are on some, too, and they… _were_ on separate ones, but it looks like either _he_ rolled onto _Sentos_ , or _Sento_ rolled onto _his_ at some point over the night, since they're currently back to back. Nothing new there, whichever of them it was probably did it out of habit. They _were_ sharing one back… well, back home. Looking for whoever woke him up, he sees two of the guys from… last night… oh, right. _'That's sure a thing that actually happened, then, isn't it?'_

"Hey."

The guy in the waistcoat, uh, wait, no, his name's Shotaro, right? Shotaro waves. "Hey yourself."

"Where is everyone?" Sento asks, reaching the ability to actually _talk_ to people just a little faster than Ryuuga.

Philip answers. "They all went ahead to the park – Takatora said that a good number more people were coming, so we're basically going the picnic route this month."

Grabbing two piles of clothes from a nearby side table, Shotaro continues where Philip leaves off. "We volunteered to stay behind and catch you guys up to speed when you woke up. Here." He hands them their own outfits back.

"I'm guessing we're still being kept under watch, then?" Sento smirks half-heartedly. "Since there's two of you here, and all."

"Eh, there's that, yeah," Shotaro scratches the back of his neck. "But we wanted to talk to you without everyone around, too, one-on-one. Senior Riders duty."

"And we called dibs." Philip laughs. "We've been Double since early 2009, the longest of anyone here. We're usually the earliest of anyone at these get-togethers, actually. Most of our predecessors don't really interact with anyone else very often. Besides, we promised we'd give the two of you a demonstration."

They direct Sento and Ryuuga over to other separate rooms to get changed – Philip going with Sento one way, while Shotaro shoos Ryuuga another.

"Lemme guess, splitting us up by brains and brawn?" Ryuuga tries to joke.

"Kind of." Shotaro shrugs, leaning back against the wall outside the door. "Philip can get where Sento's coming from a lot better than I can. He didn't know who he was for a long time, either.

"That's neither here or there, though. I wanted to ask _you_ some things."

"Shoot."

"Are you okay?"

Ryuuga sputters. "Wha?!"

Shotaro sighs. "Last night? You barely said a thing about yourself. Anything you did say was still tied to Sento, or the things that you both went through at the same time, or you deflected the topic entirely."

"Well, it's not like there's anything to say." Ryuuga replies, scoffing. "He's the hero, an' I just kinda came along for the fight." He sombers a bit. "I owe Sento _everything_ , so I'm tryin' to make sure he's okay."

"See, right there, you're doing it again. For example, last night, you were mad at him for _coming after you_ when you dragged that Evolt guy into that portal."

"Well, he _shouldn't_ have!" Ryuuga growls. "Nearly got himself killed trying to help me, _again_. Sento and his _stupid_ heroic streak..."

"It's not just that, though, is it? I'm not going to make you say what you kept him from telling us at the start, but I'm willing to bet that it's not pleasant. I get not wanting to talk about things, especially since you just met most of us, but just to let you know, it's _going_ to come out eventually."

"Look, it's not _important_ , okay? It's just stupid stuff."

"At least tell me this. Ryuuga, if he were up here right now, what would Sento be saying about that 'coming along for the fight' comment?"

Opening the door, Ryuuga snorts, now fully dressed. "Let's just go."

* * *

 _(Simultaneously, with Philip and Sento)_

"You had mentioned that some of your previous self's memories came back. What was that like?"

Sento sputters. "That's – really blunt, wow. I'll be honest, I though a question like that would come from someone a little more, uh."

"Pushy?"

"Yeah, kind of. You didn't really seem to be paying much attention last night, so."

"That's fair, it _does_ look that way, doesn't it?" Philip chuckles. "It used to be that I wouldn't have noticed anyone coming in, or cared at all. I still don't always notice people when I'm doing research, but I've gotten much better at it over time.

"It was a serious question, though. So… how did that go for you?"

Sento takes some time before answering. "I only really 'got' through High School. I, uh, was kind of talking to him for a while, after he had come back? I mean, he 'left' again when we got here, but for a while we were both kind of... around. So, I got some of what he thought about the things that went on from that point, but he didn't let me see anything from after the Skywall went up. So there's still a good ten years or so of _his_ that I don't have. But thinking about it..." he pauses. "It's like watching a movie, one that's in first person, where I'm in the _role_ of the character, but it's not really _me_ there."

"So that's how yours is." Philip makes a sound of acknowledgement. "For me, it's essentially reading a book that's allegedly about myself, but actually isn't at all."

"Wait, you too?"

"At least you went through this as an adult. I was only about 17."

Sento's expression falls, not that Philip can see it from outside. "That's just..."

"Wrong? I know. Looking at the person you used to be, it's like having all of the _facts_ right _there_ , just waiting for you to grab them, but none of the _connections_ to it, right?

"Haha, yeah. It's terrible. It'd probably be worse if I _did_ have all the feelings still attached. I was – _he_ was kind of awful." Sento's voice drops. "The 'perfectly willing to do pre-emptive murder' kind of awful."

"..."

"Sorry, I shouldn't have said anything, open mouth, insert foot, sorry..."

"Oh, no, it's fine. It's just that you sounded really..." Philip grumbles a bit, thinking. "You sounded really sad. Before, when you discussed Katsuragi, you seemed more guilty or mad about what he did. This was different, that's all.

"Well. New topic, then! The two of you still have your drivers, yes?"

"...yeah. Didn't want to let go of them."

"This is entirely my own curiosity speaking here, mind you, but do they still work?"

"They worked _last_ time, in December, so if they don't work now, it won't be because we're in a different universe, if that's what you're asking. We don't know if they work, though. We haven't tried. Don't really know whether we want them to or not."

"Because of the war, or because of where they came from?"

"...because if we can transform, then Evolt might not be entirely gone."

"Ah."

They let the silence hang for a bit.

"Are you ready to head out?"

Sento opens the door. "Yeah."

* * *

"So then, is this the point where the two of you explain why you say you're the same Rider?" Sento's expression is curious, but wary. The four have gone outside, and while _Shotaro_ stayed with them, _Philip_ has been going around the yard, checking the ground.

"Yeah, that's why we're out here. Our transformation looks _way_ better outside. It's also a bit less… eh, let's go with 'potentially destructive' if we're not indoors."

Shotaro notices the worried looks on Ryuuga and Sento's faces. "Ah, no, it's not like, explosions or anything. Just a large gust of wind, and I'd prefer we _not_ ruin Takatora's living room. Philip, you find a good spot yet?"

"Almost!"

"Okay, summary time. Philip and I use what're called Gaia Memories to transform, these things here." Shotaro holds up a black USB-looking device. "Basically, they're elements, archetypes, and ideas condensed down into little high-tech packages. We've got three each – mine are basically for fighting styles, and Philip's are more elemental."

"Alright, this looks good!"

"Great, come on." Shotaro heads over, the others following. He and Philip stand next to each other, Shotaro pulling out a driver. "Let's do this." As he places it on his waist, a matching one appears on Philip's.

Philip inserts a green Memory into the right side of his driver, which promptly disappears, reappearing in Shotaro's.

 _ **CYCLONE**_

Shotaro inserts a black one into the left side.

 _ **JOKER**_

""Transform!""

A gust of wind circles Shotaro, building their armor around him as Philip collapses to the ground.

""Now, time to count up your sins!""

The reactions are… mixed. Ryuuga darts over to Philip's body, clearly distressed. Sento stares, transfixed, a lock of hair springing up.

"Holy- are you okay? Hey! Hey!"

"I'm over here."

"Eh?"

Double waves, 'his' right eye flashing. "Hi there. I get that a lot."

"Ehhhhh?!"

"We _probably_ should start warning people about this..." 'he' rubs the left side of his head.

"This is terrific..." Sento starts to grin. "The both of you are in there?"

"Yup."

"Is this… Is this just _normal_?"

""Huh?""

Ryuuga's laying flat on his back, utterly defeated. Sento, meanwhile, has started circling around Double, looking more like a cat on the prowl than anything else.

"This whole… body-sharing, possession, thing. Is this _normal_ around here?!"

"Does it matter? I just want to know how this works, it's amazing!"

"It matters! A lot! This makes four groups doing this, Sento!"

"Mm. So, Philip's at least _speaking_ through the green side, but it's still Shotaro's body, right? Is that the extent of this, just communication, or is there more to it?"

"When we're wearing our driver, I can control the right side of Shotaro's body, transformed or not. Essentially, my consciousness is uploaded into him when we're fighting."

"So cool..."

"Hey, where are you getting four? I know Emu and Parad did their thing when you guys fought together that time, but who're the other two? And would you stop _pacing?!_ "

"Easy, Shotaro."

"That Eiji guy did _something_ when his suit turned red." Ryuuga answers from his place on the ground. "And the bird guy didn't show back up after that. The fourth..."

"The fourth is _us_. It was a very stressful few days. Some of the last of Evolt's race showed up and they." Sento grimaces. "Banjou. Do you want to take this one?"

"I mean, I don't really remember it that well, but yeah. They..." He growls as he gets up, thinking. "They decided that they _liked_ me or something, and one of them pulled the 'possess the good guy and use him as a power-up' stunt, and they used me and the rest of the city to try and get rid of Sento. The only people they couldn't… I dunno, brainwash or hypnotize or whatever were him, Ge- Rogue and Grease. I'm not really sure _how_ it happened, but somehow when Sento was getting me back, the two of us fused. Don't get me wrong, man, it was kinda cool and that suit was _awesome_ , but I'd rather not go through all that again." The last part is directed at Sento, who's finally slowing down his 'investigation.'

"That's fair." Sento replies, still only half paying attention. "I'd rather not be attacked by an entire cities worth of people again. So, how many different forms do you two have?"

"All right, that's enough!" Shotaro snaps, closing the driver and ending the transformation.

Philip pouts a bit as he sits up. "Rude, all of you." Stretching, he answers Sento's question. "Nine basic combinations, where Shotaro is Double's body. Then FangJoker is the tenth – I'm the body in that form. Our last one is Cyclone Joker Xtreme, where we wind up completely merging, possibly a bit like what you described.

"Now that you've brought that up, though, it's not as uncommon a thread as I had thought, is it? Hm…"

"Philip..."

"Den-o and Zeronos use something similar to us as one of their main methods of fighting, and I suppose that Takeru and his friends may count as well..."

"Philip, babe, wait until we're home."

"Oh, right. Sorry." He pulls out a small, well worn notepad from a pocket on his sweater, turning to a page halfway through. "Let me just mark this down as a future subject for research..."

"Oh god they're identical." Ryuuga mumbles under his breath.

"And with _that_ unfortunate realization out of the way, seeing as neither of you know how to get to the park… here." Shotaro holds out Sento's phone.

Sento doesn't take it. "I don't exactly have up-to-date maps on there," he quips, raising an eyebrow.

"What? No, turn it into the bike and we'll split back into groups. I'll go with you, and Philip with Ryuuga. Sound good?"

"Okay, see, that makes more sense than you actually _giving_ it back."

* * *

(On the way to the park, with Shotaro and Sento on Sento's bike)

"What was he trying to keep you from telling us?"

"What do you mean?"

"Ryuuga tackled you when you started your story at '24 years ago.' That's not _just_ a running in-joke, is it?"

"Well, that _is_ part of it, I was stealing that one from him." Sento grimaces, not that Shotaro can see from where he's driving. "But it's not a thing we talk about. I shouldn't have brought it up."

"Yeah, right. Is it tied to that Hazard Level thing you guys mentioned, and why the box responded to him?"

"…!"

Shotaro huffs. "Look, I am _literally_ a detective, and far from the only one here, so not much stays hidden for long. Those levels _change_ _d_ , and if it were just that the box responded to 'people with high levels', then it would've reacted to you at some point too, wouldn't it?

"So. If it responded to Ryuuga the same way as it did that Evolt guy, but not to you, even after your level caught up, then there's clearly more of a link than just the ability to become a Rider."

"…"

"Thought so."

* * *

 _(On the way to the park, with Philip and Ryuuga on_ _Double's bike)_

"So, you're not human, are you?"

Ryuuga coughs, choking on air. "Wha- I dunno what you're talking about! I'm _normal_ , okay?!"

"It's all right, you know. Normal is an _incredibly_ relative term around here." Philip shrugs.

"If… _If_ I wasn't human, or if I was like, _part_ human and part somethin' else..." His voice becomes strained. "And I'm not saying that's true, but. If that _were_ true. What would you guys all do?"

"Well, even if you're not human, not that you're saying that, it's not as though you'd be the only one in that situation."

"The heck d'ya mean by that?"

Philip chuckles to himself before replying. "For starters, I _know_ you met Ankh. He's quite frankly an absolute asshole, but he was basically a science experiment gone… slightly awry. Parad essentially was part of the source code for his species, which eventually came to include Kiriya."

"The hell went on with those guys, anyway?"

"The situation with Emu and his group was." Philip pauses. "Complicated. And very long-term. So was mine. I was basically made of data for about thirteen years. But regardless, you're one of us – you're a Kamen Rider, and that's what matters. What you do as a _person_ matters much more than whatever your _heritage_ might be."

"Yeah, well, guess that makes sense. Not that it applies. But good ta know anyway. Hey, I gotta ask. Why d'ya keep repeating things?"

"Oh? Whatever do you mean?"

"You keep going back over the stuff I tell you, what's up with tha- _oh_."

"Mm?"

"You guys can talk through that belt, can't you."

"Yes, yes we can."

"You've been wearing that thing since you were showing off, haven't you?"

Philip grins, not that Ryuuga can see it while seated behind him. "Yes, yes we have."

"...Okay, so, if he doesn't notice, you guys _have_ to let me be the one to tell Sento you never took those off."

"Why would you want to tell him?"

" _Payback."_

* * *

"Wait a minute."

"Yeah?"

"Did Philip take _your_ name, or did you take _his_?"

Shotaro laughs. "He took mine, said he wanted to choose his name this time around and wanted everyone to know."

"So, your last name is _Hidari_. And you're-"

"The left half. Yeah. I know. Took like four months for either of us to notice, actually. And part of that was only after Philip re-learned that puns exist."

Sento looks downward – well, as much as he can while riding on the back of a motorcycle. "And I though getting named 'rabbit tank' was bad..."

"Oh, it gets worse." Shotaro grins. "First off, I wasn't even intended to be his partner as Double. So _my_ name was a coincidence."

Sento winces. " _Your_ name was a coincidence?"

"Yeah. Philip's original name is _Raito_."

"Ri- dear god."

"That was our reaction, too. Well, once the shock of the whole 'finding out who his family is' thing wore off."

"Mm."

"Aaand we're here!" They pull into the park, where a number more people than last night are gathered. "Hey, how do you shrink this thing back down, anyway?"

"Oh, it's this one." Sento pushes one of the icons, and the bike reverts back to a phone, which he catches. "Here, just in case." He holds it out, laughing dryly.

"Good to know you trust us, anyway." Shotaro tucks it away, noticing that they're being watched. "Hey, Date!"

"This the new guy?" A tall man meets them halfway.

"One of them, anyway. Philip here yet? He had Ryuuga with him."

"Sorry, not yet. Ryuuga's the one Eij' met, right?"

"'Eij'? You mean Ooo, right?" Sento answers. "He did, yeah. Sento Kiryuu, Build."

"Akira Date, Proto-Birth. Nice ta meetcha, kid." He grips Sento's hand in a rough handshake.

"Is Eiji here? Shinnosuke said something about him coming with someone named Kiriko."

Shotaro groans. "And everyone gets on _me_ about being vague?"

Date laughs. "Nah, _my_ teams Eiji is in… Italy? I think? Least that's where he was last week."

"Uh..."

"He travels. _Tomari's_ Eiji is the smaller of the two children over there." He points over his shoulder at a sandbox.

"Ohh."

"In his defense, he hadn't met us and our Eiji until recently, they write it differently, and time travel was involved."

The older child, a girl with pigtails, looks up and breaks out into a grin. "Uncle Sho!" She sets out at a run.

"Whuh-oh." Shotaro crouches down to catch the small, excitable missile. He still almost gets bowled over. "Hey Haruna! You get bigger every time I see you!"

She pouts. "You see me almost every day, Uncle Sho! Nobody grows _that_ fast!"

"When you're still a little kid you do!"

She sticks out her tongue at him. "Bluuuh! When's Uncle Philip getting here?"

"I dunno, we had to take different bikes." He tilts his head to the side. "Wait, no, he's pulling in as we speak."

Haruna nods, apparently satisfied with that answer. "'Kay! Now come play with me'n Eiji!" She grabs his arm, before dashing back off to the sandbox with him in tow.

"Wha-hey-hold on!" Desperately trying to hold onto his hat, Shotaro yells back to Sento. "I guess we'll talk more later! Haruna, hang on, I'm coming, I'm coming!"

Sento smiles. "She's _adorable_."

"Isn't she?"

Sento jumps, startled by Philip and Banjou showing up behind him. "When did you two get here?"

"Just now, ya didn't miss anything. So," Banjou turns to Philip. "That little ball of energy is your niece? Which of ya is she related to?"

"Neither of us, biologically speaking. Shotaro cut contact with his parents some time before I met him, and mine…" Philip's grip tightens on his book. "My birth family isn't around anymore. We both found our new family when we met each other, and Akiko and Ryu, and all of our other friends in Fuuto.

"Akiko is our boss; her father was Shotaro's mentor, and founded the detective agency. Haruna is her and Ryu's daughter."

The three watch the tableau over at the sandbox. Haruna has apparently decided that her uncle is now a jungle gym, and is clambering on top of him. He looks rather distraught, which may have less to do with the small child, and more to do with the woman apparently threatening him with…

"Is that a _slipper_ that woman is holding?" Banjou squints. "Why-?"

" _That_ is Akiko. Ryu is the one in the leather jacket, talking with Shinnosuke."

Sento's smile widens a bit. "So you all built your own family together, huh? Small worlds."

"Guess that's somethin' else you two nerds have in common, isn't it?" Banjou smiles lopsidedly. "I can get behind that."

"Hey, hang on." Sento blinks. "How did Shotaro know you were arriving?"

Banjou's smile turns smug.

* * *

Eventually, everyone makes their way to assorted tables around the park, and conversations are going all around.

"I'm sorry about last night. I didn't mean to set you off like that." Sento tries to apologize to Takeru.

"No, no, it's fine, I'm the one who snapped, after all. If anything, I should be the one apologizing. I mean, I _slapped_ you, that's on me."

"Wait, what?! _You_ slapped someone?!" Makoto comes over. "Is _that_ why you've been rubbing at your hand all day?"

"Uh, yeah, heh, kinda. Still stings a little." Takeru looks sheepish as he answers an unasked question. "Like Doctor Emu said, I'm 'Ghost' for a reason. I mean, I came back, but my pain tolerance has been kinda messed up because of it. Still working on getting that to something resembling normal…" Makoto frowns at him. "Using Infinite in December reset a lot of my effort on it, okay? It's a work in progress."

"You _say_ that, but..."

"Makoto, it's nothing. I'm dealing, it's fine. Please do _not_ tell Akari or Onari." Takeru pleads. "They'll make a big deal out of it, and I'd really rather they not."

"Sure, I guess."

"Thank. You. I'm going to grab something to eat, anyone want me to get them something?"

The three decline, and Takeru runs off.

"Okay, that kid was _not_ this jumpy last time." Ryuuga points out, once Takeru is out of earshot.

"No, it definitely picked up after then." Makoto's frown deepens. "He _never_ used to be this anxious, back when we were kids, and before he died. And even when he wasn't technically alive, Takeru was a _lot_ better at keeping it under wraps, at least."

"Last night, Kiriya mentioned something about Takeru dying multiple times..." Sento looks at Makoto worriedly. "I can understand there being a first time, but how could he die again while already, um, being a ghost?"

Makoto sighs. "He was given 99 days to come back to life. He managed to extend it by another 99 days, but he counts that first deadline as his second death. None of _us_ do, but it's not worth arguing with him on it.

"The Infinite form he mentioned, he got that after his Eyecon was broken."

"His what?"

"Shush, we'll find out eventually."

"It's the object that was holding his soul."

"Holy _shit_."

"Banjou!"

"Like you weren't thinking the same."

"Ahem. As I was _saying_. He was _killed_ twice, but he counted the number of times he's died at _four_. That fourth was when… well, there was a situation with one of Alain's brothers, and he didn't return to reality with us. He was 'gone' for a week.

"And he came back to life, at the last possible minute, Takeru came back to life, we were _done_ , we'd _won!_ And he was doing a lot better. Before, during everything, the stress of the fighting and the time limit was really getting to him. He was constantly hiding it, but who wouldn't in those circumstances?"

Sento and Ryuuga both nod.

"The thing is, at the end of the… uh, the Pac-man incident, where we met Emu… Takeru, he…" Makoto looks downward, away from the others, grimacing. "He went into cardiac arrest because of everything that happened in the battle. We lost him again for a few minutes there. After that's when he started getting… more constantly on edge, I guess, and even more so after that whole thing this past December. That day, the 'Pac-man incident', we count that as his third death, but that's when he started counting the second time he reached his deadline as another, and for some reason he's started counting the situation with Alain's brother _twice_.

"But whatever this is, today? It's _not_ because of that, and it's not the pain tolerance thing either, at least, not the way he's saying it is. Alain and I dealt with a lot of that after everything, too, but for all three of us it's _n_ _ever_ been 'feeling something for too long.'" Makoto growls. "It's that we weren't feeling things _correctly_ or _enough_ and kept getting injured because we ignored it or just didn't _notice_ that something was actually serious.

"Whatever this thing going on is, please don't tell Emu about it just yet? I want to try to get Takeru to say something on his own. He's good at deflecting, _but_ if I can catch him _as something happens_ , he's not nearly able to dodge questions as well."

"We'll keep quiet, don't worry."

"Thank you."

* * *

"So. Where do you guys plan to go now?"

"Uh..."

"Er, well, we hadn't really thought about it."

"Yeaaaah. We thought you hadn't."

Sento grimaces. "We?"

"Pretty much everyone, to be honest." Shinnosuke shrugs. "Actually, a lot of people are debating over who gives you guys a place to stay."

"Wait, what?" Ryuuga sputters. "No, wait, we can't-"

"We couldn't make any of you do that, why would-"

Parad walks over, putting his hand on Sento's shoulder. "Remember when you were helping me get back here? You literally said, _and I quote_ , 'Must be nice to have a place you know you belong.'"

Ryuuga looks at the both of them, as Sento looks at the ground.

"I _did_ say that, didn't I?"

"Dude."

"It was still early. We had _just_ found out about who Blood Stalk was, for the _first_ time, remember? There was _so much_ that hadn't happened yet."

"Oh yeah, right."

"Emu and I _wanted_ to put you up, but we can't. We asked already, but we can't swing any way to get a larger place – technically, our apartment is registered under the Ministry of Health, on account of me and Emu's whole deal, and I think we got lucky that they let Kiriya live there too. I'm really sorry."

Sento shakes his head. "It's fine, really. The fact you tried is enough."

Ryuuga shrugs. "So, uh, who else is trying for us? Since it kinda looks we're not getting a much of a say in this."

"Well," Parad peers over towards another set of picnic tables. "I know Takeru's going for it, but I don't think he's the best choice for you guys."

Philip joins them, nodding. "I doubt either of you are really the type for temple life, and he definitely knows that. Gentarou _had_ put his metaphorical hat in the ring, as well. But he's on a teachers salary, so he's already been talked down."

"Probably just as well. I can safely say we're both burnt out on space right now. So, what I'm seeing from the remaining people over there is that we're moving to Fuuto." Sento concludes.

"Essentially." Philip sighs. "The last point we're really stuck on is who you'll be staying with until you get on your feet. Shotaro and Akiko are... negotiating."

"That's one way to put it." Ryuuga stares. "Are. Are they doing rock paper scissors?"

"Yes. Yes they are."

"I'm embarrassed _for_ them."

"Just think how Ryu and I feel."

* * *

Ten minutes later, Shotaro and Akiko are _still_ at it. Tying each and every time.

"It's like a train wreck. You wanna look away, but you can't." Ryuuga shakes his head.

"A very slow, very sad train wreck." Sento adds.

"Could've at least asked who we'd rather go with."

Ryu rolls his eyes. "Would you have been willing to take us up on the offer if we gave you a choice?

"Well, no, prob'ly not, but you still could've asked!"

"Alright, this is absurd." Sento groans. "How about a coin flip? Heads we go with Philip and Shotaro, tails with Ryu and Akiko. Sound good?"

"That makes as much sense as anything."

"It'll be faster than waiting on our spouses."

"Sure, why not?"

 _(flip)_

 _(catch)_

"Well then, Shotaro and Philip it is. Now how do we get those two to cut it out?"

"If someone can get our driver onto him..."

"Without him noticing? No, he'd think that was cheating, and he's using his left hand besides."

"Probably in order to _keep_ me from doing exactly that..."

"Okay, what if someone just, like, walks up to them?" Ryuuga suggests. "That'd be way faster."

"I tried that, they both ignored me." Ryu sighs, then looks over at where Haruna _had_ been watching from. "Haruna?!"

The small Haruna Terui is making her way over to her mother, with all the determination a six-year-old on a mission can muster. Given who her parents and adopted uncles are, that's quite a bit of determination indeed.

She tugs on Akiko's shirt. "Mommy, Uncle Sho, it's over. Uncle Sho and Uncle Philip won."

"Ehh?!"

"Wait, we did?" Shotaro glances briefly down, checking for the double driver. "When?!"

"'bout ten minutes ago." She starts pulling them to the others. "Daddy and Uncle Philip and New Uncle Sento and New Uncle Ryuuga flipped a coin."

"Oh, _did_ they now?" Shotaro looks over at the others. "What, they don't trust your mom and me?"

"Guess not." Akiko puts her hands on her hips. "Okay, boys, show's over!" They all cluster together. "So then, you two. Glad you'll be joining us." She grins.

"...Thanks." Ryuuga nods slowly. "We appreciate it."

"Hey, um, Haruna?" Sento crouches down.

"Yup?"

"Why did you call Banjou and me 'uncle' just now?"

She blinks owlishly at him. "'Cause you are. Family's somethin' you choose, and Mommy and Daddy and Uncle Philip and Uncle Sho already chose you. So, you're family."

Sento and Ryuuga both look over at the adults, with matching expressions of surprise.

Ryu shrugs with a small smile, while Akiko flat-out _beams_. With Shotaro leaning on his shoulder, Philip laughs. "Well said. Welcome to the family, you two."

* * *

 _I will help these boys whether they like it or not._

 _Also, hi, guess who decided to change some of the reasoning for Takeru's "count" after seeing 100 Eyecons? I've updated the chapter 5 end note accordingly._

 _(Whoever wrote the movies for both OOO and Ghost have some_ decisions _to answer for.)_

 _To those reading when this goes up, happy holidays! It's December 25th, so here's some fluff to make up for Toei being Toei and their assorted brands of Rider Despair._


	7. Moving Onward and Forward

"So, why did you two choose to come here, anyway?"

Ryuuga smacks himself in the forehead. "Son of a- we completely forgot about that, didn't we?"

Sighing, Sento rubs at his temples. "Your friend, Gaim, he somehow managed to travel to our earth, and we were – _I_ was hoping to at least learn how he did that. I know we can't go back home. It's gone and I… that fact is hard enough to handle, and I don't think I could deal with myself if it actually _does_ still exist.

"To be honest, half of the reason for wanting to know is really just curiosity. Bad habits die hard, I guess. I couldn't keep myself from designing nearly all of our weapons back home, even the ones that I knew were a terrible idea, even the ones that wound up destroying us-" His breath catches, and Ryuuga scoots down the bench to get closer, rubbing his hand on Sento's back.

"Aw, man…" Ryuuga sighs, and takes over the conversation. "Look, we weren't expecting to come into all of… this." He looks around the park. "Thought that we'd eventually _find_ the guys from here, that'd it take time and we'd have to _look_. We didn't think we'd just – basically get delivered to you." He looks back down at the ground, one hand clenched and trembling at his side, the other still trying to help Sento level out. "But… man, neither of us is doin' that hot. Maybe this wasn't a great idea after all…"

"Hey, you know you can come back here later, right?" Shotaro looks over to Takatora, who nods in confirmation. "We can get you guys settled first. It'll help a _lot_ to have somewhere to go back to when it gets too hard to talk about stuff.

Shotaro ponders their available options. "So, here's the deal. Philip and I were planning to spend one additional night here, but it might be a better idea to start back soon, so you guys can start settling in sooner… Although, it _is_ a bit of a drive, so maybe going in fresh would be a better idea."

"Argh, we're really screwing with your plans, aren't we?" Ryuuga winces. "Just… whatever works best for you guys is fine by me."

"I _really_ don't dese-" Sento catches himself. "I don't have the ri-" he grimaces. "…Thank you." he sighs. "Sorry…"

Micchy speaks up from the next table over. "It's a process. You'll get there."

There's a moment before Sento can bring himself to speak again. "…Right. Right, of course." Slowly he turns to his partner. "Hey, Banjou…"

"Yeah?"

"I've got a few things I want to run by that doctor group." Sento runs his hand nervously through his hair. "I- sorry, but it's important, I'll be right back, I promise-"

Ryuuga stays silent for a few moments, during which Sento grows visibly more anxious. He sighs, rolling his eyes. "You have all your dad's notes 'n stuff on the phone, don't you."

"…Yeah. And I… _may_ have backed up everyone else's phones, too, just so that they'd still have everything if their own devices were destroyed. But my father's… er, pre-Sky Wall notes are, well, more relevant right now. So..."

Ryuuga waves his hand dismissively. "Yeah, yeah. I get it. You're not _wrong_ , it's… ugh, fine, they oughta know. Go, do the thing."

Sento nods, smiling apologetically as he walks off.

* * *

"So…" Nico starts, as she watches Sento head over to talk to Emu and Kiriya, while Ryuuga wanders over to the food table.

"I'll bite." Poppy responds. "What's up?"

"…D'ya think those two are a thing?"

Several people around the area cough. "What?!"

"I'm serious. Look at them. It's disgustingly sappy."

Akiko laughs. "Not a chance, not yet. They're clearly into each other, but they've got no clue how to go about it. I doubt they've even _said_ anything to each other."

"Married woman's intuition?" Poppy giggles.

"Nope. This one's 'had to watch Shotaro and Philip dance around their feelings for two years' intuition."

Shotaro squawks. "That's uncalled for!"

"Two years, starting _after_ Philip came back." She smirks.

Philip nods. "She's not wrong."

"Et tu, bruté?"

Philip responds by planting a kiss on Shotaro's temple.

"Oh god, see, that? Also sappy and gross. Public displays of affection are gross." Nico rolls her eyes. "Dunno how you guys get anything done at that agency, between the four of you. Terui _melts_ the moment Akiko looks at him. Romance. UGH."

* * *

"There's a few things I want to – that I _need_ to talk to you about."

Emu looks at Sento, who's fidgeting nervously, occasionally casting a glance back at Ryuuga. "If it's about last time, you really _don't_ need to apologize."

"No, it's not about that. It's that." He screws up his face before forcing it back into a semblance of calm. "Banjou and I don't… well, we don't technically _exist_ here, legally speaking. And honestly, we've both had enough of being on the run, or not being _real_ , is there any chance you know whether there's anything we can do to, well, 'fix' that, or-"

"Whoa, whoa, slow down." Emu puts out his hands to 'pause' Sento's runaway sentence. "Believe it or not, there _are_ actually legal, binding forms for this sort of thing. We had to, er, basically create an identity wholesale for Parad, which led us down a whole rabbit hole of strange legal status forms."

"I wound up filling out the 'change of species' form, myself, once we found out that was a thing." Kiriya waves from across the table. "Not really sure why that's a thing the government's got in the first place, but. Ya know. I'll take it. There was one for 'inter-reality refugee' in the listing, wasn't there?"

Parad answers, not looking up from his game. "Yeah, I saw that in there. It's separate from the 'previously non-existent entity' forms me and Poppy filled out. They get _weirdly_ specific, too, so you guys oughta prepare for some bizarre-ass questions."

Emu nods in agreement. "Some of the sections were _very_ strange. We can send you the links to them." He looks at Sento seriously. "But that particular problem's not what has you so nervous, is it?"

"I-!" Grimacing, Sento glances backwards again, before focusing his attention on the ground. "Last night, what Banjou was trying to keep me from telling you… I don't _want_ to betray his trust, but this is _important_ , and I mean, you guys are doctors, so-"

Shaking his head, Emu smiles dryly. "So, let me guess, he's not completely human, then? Are we dealing with naturally different biology or changes from 'external influences'?"

"…naturally different. I _do_ actually have a lot of the details about the, er, circumstances stored on my phone – I backed up all of my research onto it regularly – so I can get that to you. Maybe not _soon_ , necessarily, but when I've got phone privileges back." Sento pauses, seeming to almost lose himself in thought. "And a functioning e-mail. My old one doesn't work here."

"Don't worry too much about it. As long as we know what problems might come up, we _should_ be able to deal with any that actually _do_."

Cautiously looking back up, Sento manages a small smile. "Thank you."

It's at this point that Ryuuga walks up. "Hey, so, I just got sent out to tell you that we're headed out soon, so ya gotta wrap it up." He notices Sento's guilty expression. "Hey, come on…"

"Sorry…"

"Hmph." Ryuuga crosses his arms. "As long as this bullshit doesn't make common knowledge. Not yet, anyway." He scoffs. "Hell, bad enough _I_ had the stupid 'half space asshole' news dropped on me… aaaand you hadn't gone inta any detail yet, had you."

The guilty expression morphs into one of fond exasperation. "You say that as though either of us has any form of tact whatsoever. …Oh!" Sento turns to Parad. "There's just one more question, I swear-"

Parad scoffs. "Sounds fake, but okay."

"Parad, when we met… you recognized Banjou's name, didn't you?"

Ryuuga pounds a fist into his hand. "Hey, yeah, and ya knew the 'other guy's' nickname last night, too!"

"Wait, really?" Sento stares. "I thought the 'devil's scientist' term was mostly just in the scientific community. Most people wouldn't have known about it, right?"

At that, Ryuuga laughs. "Dude, the little kids in your hometown knew about him screwing up. It musta spread while I was locked up."

Shrugging, Parad looks guiltily at them. "I had some context built up – two years, after all. And I hate to break it to you, but that whole… situation was all over the news for at least a few weeks. You-" he nods at Ryuuga "were a huge part of _why_ it blew up the news, actually."

"Heh?!"

Wincing, he looks away. "I mean, news outlets love a scandal, after all, and this wasn't the first one you were involved in, apparently? I dunno what got you got kicked out of boxing, or when, because… well, sports suck." Parad ignores the indignant look on Ryuuga's face as he continues. "But it was well known enough to for you to make front page when everyone thought you snapped and killed a guy."

Sento and Ryuuga both stare.

"The articles were _not_ flattering. At all."

"Aw, man, you thought I killed him too, didn't you..."

"Pft, like I'm in any position to judge. Besides, _you_ breaking out of jail helped me track _him_ down." Smirking, Parad jerks his head toward Sento. "I mean, the reports of an _incredibly_ wanted fugitive teaming up with the Kamen Rider who hadn't been much more than a rumor? That was a _great_ clue that I'd been in the wrong district entirely for almost two years. And when those videos started surfacing, those helped too." He looks in the middle distance. "The woman posting them was one of the ones in your base, right? Sa-"

""Don't use her name!""

"Don't… please don't." Ryuuga's fist trembles at his side, as he forces out the words. "We can't see our friends, any of them, so just. Please."

"We can't… they don't know us here. They're alive again, but they don't remember us – they _can'_ _t_ ," Sento's voice shakes. "By all rights, neither of us should even _exist_ anymore-"

"Hey…" Emu takes on a warning tone, his stance stiffening.

"It's not the 'not deserving to' issue this time, this is just science! We shouldn't – not this way, as us. The – the plan was that people would merge with the versions of themselves that were in _whatever_ universe we were going into or – or making, or _whatever_ it is that happened, because I _don't know anymore_!"

Sento's starting to run out of breath, but keeps going anyway. "Except that I'm an anomaly, so I don't _have_ a counterpart, so there shouldn't have been anyone for me to become. But – Banjou _does_ have a counterpart, and frankly," he turns to Ryuuga "I _know_ you don't agree, but I still – you'd have been better off not remembering _any_ of that-"

"And, what, leave you here alone?" Ryuuga shakes his head, incredulous. "I get ya didn't think you were gonna make it here, but ya _did._ I told ya I'd find you again, and I did. So _screw_ logic, just this once, okay?

"I gotta admit, though. I don't want everyone else to remember that shit either. If they had come through with us… then _maybe_." Wincing, he looks away. "But they're all happy here, and that's what you were fighting for, remember? Love and peace, and our friends have that now. Me? I was fighting for the people I believed in, and right now? That's you, Sento. So… _please_. Stop beating yourself up like this."

"I'm… trying." Sento gives Ryuuga a firm look. "You have to do the same, muscle-head."

"H-hey!"

Sento claps the flustered Ryuuga on the shoulder, a small smirk on his face that's only partially fake. "Oh, and-"

"Don't. No, don't say it, _no_ -"

"Yeaaah, since you pulled in here." The smirk grows. "I'm going to show Shotaro how to unlock the phone, and get the bike running. See you in a bit." Sento walks off, while Ryuuga hurriedly turns away from everyone else.

"Son of a-" Ryuuga grumbles. "I swear, I _checked_ \- Ugh!" Turning back around, he chases after Sento. "Tell me _sooner_ , you!"

* * *

"Hang on, wait a minute… Hey, Shotaro, pull over for a minute?"

"Hm? Okay…" Shotaro looks around for a moment to find a good location, before doing so.

Philip pulls up next to them on the Hardboiler, Ryuuga in tow. "What's going on?"

Sento takes off his helmet. "Banjou, does that tower look familiar? I could swear I've seen it recently…"

"Huh." Ryuuga scratches his head. "Yeah, we've been by here. This's one of the places we drove through when we were tryin' ta get to Zawame."

Shotaro gapes. "What- okay, _how_? You landed near Emu's team, right? Fuuto's in the complete opposite direction from there compared to Zawame!"

"I mean, we _did_ say we were completely lost."

Sento nods in agreement. "I'm actually impressed that we managed to get as incredibly off track as we did."

"Now I just feel bad I didn't notice you guys coming through…" Shotaro leans on the Machine Builder. "I've failed my successors _and_ my city…"

"Aw, come on, man, it's not that bad, we _were_ kinda avoiding people, so-"

"Banjou's right, it's not your fault. …Also, you kind of phrased that like you're part of the mob?"

Shotaro doesn't answer, as Philip pats him on the shoulder. "There, there." Philip then turns to the others. "Don't worry, we're just very defensive of Fuuto. As for the mob part…" he frowns. "I… kind of was? At least, my _family_ might have been. It's. Complicated."

* * *

Once they make it to the agency, Shotaro sighs. "So, with regards to sleeping arrangements. The agency is on the second floor. There used to be a pool hall on the first floor, but it closed down a few years after Akiko took over for her father as the boss here. We were able to get the space, and turned it into an apartment. Philip and I live there, and we've actually got two spare rooms, but neither of them are exactly… empty right now."

"By which he means we've used them to store the assorted paraphernalia from a number of my research projects." Philip at least has the decency to pretend to look embarrassed. "Until we can get that cleared out, I hope you two don't mind having to share the sleeping nook in the office. We don't use it much anymore. It was a necessity when I was technically in hiding, but we've kept it set up for when one of us crashes."

"Eh, I'm okay with it." Ryuuga looks at Sento. "You?"

"Mm. It might be a little tight, though…"

Philip considers this. "If we move the couch from the garage to up here, that would make it wider… Mind you, we'd have to move some cushions from the chairs over, as well, to even it out so neither of you fall off, since it's lower than the bed…"

* * *

Sento puts his hands on his hips. "Okay, the idea was sound _in theory_."

Shotaro looks at the spiral staircase, and then across the garage bay to the couch. Back to the stairs… and back over to the couch. "Philip… even if we get it up the stairs, can we actually get it through the door?"

"I may have skipped a few steps in my thought process."

"Hold up, how'd you get a couch down here if you didn't bring it through the door?"

""We brought it through the garage entrance.""

"Yeah, okay." Ryuuga cracks his knuckles. "Lemme take a crack at this." He crosses the area to get to the far landing. "Why is this place so huge, anyway?"

Shotaro grins. "It has to be, or the Revolgarry wouldn't fit. We have a _tank_."

"I hope you know that sounds even _more_ implausible than the way you two transform." Sento gives the detectives a skeptical look. "Particularly because I see no signs of a tank in here."

"Oh, it's open right now." Philip shrugs. "We don't close it until we need it – the walkway has to retract for it to fit through."

Ignoring the way Sento stares at their new hosts incredulously, Ryuuga squats down next to the couch, grabbing it. "And here we _go_ -" With a small grunt, he lifts it most of the way up, by one end. "'kay, if someone balances that other end so it's not dragging, that'll do, right?"

"Holy shit."

"Shotaro, language."

Sento bounces forward. "Oh! And if we use the handrail as a _support_ to balance the sofa, instead of seeing it as blocking our way- Ah, will we be able to angle towards the door, though?"

"Won't know till we get there!"

* * *

 _ **~night~**_

 _-It's your fault the girl died-_

 _-Ryuuga! Help me!-_

 _-i'm sorry i'm so sorry i couldn't save you-_

 _-And once again you'll have to watch-_

 _-screams of agony muffled by an oxygen mask-_

 _-doin' this for you man-_

 _-You'll have to watch someone you care about die-_

 _-what's the point anymore-_

 _-We're the same being after all-_

 _-we're not we can't be-_

 _-Does it really matter? You've made this your own-_

 _-Once again you'll have to watch the one you lo-_

 _-everything is falling down everything is destroyed everything is_ burning _-_

Ryuuga bolts upright, panting, eyes darting around as they adjust to the dim light.

"Where – Right, okay, right, we've got a place to stay, hell, we've got people to help us out, even – wait, where's?"

His eyes land on Sento, asleep beside him on the makeshift bed that they and their hosts cobbled together.

"He's here, he's safe, he's okay, you're okay, we're both okay, it's fine, Evolt's gone he can't hurt us again everything's okay…"

Okay-ish. Everything is okay-ISH, because it's _reall_ _y_ warm in here. Except Sento's got a blanket pulled around him, and Ryuuga can definitely feel a breeze from the small window above Shotaro's desk, but he still feels really warm, which means _he's_ what's warm, which means he needs to move, _now_ , before something goes wrong _again_.

Biting his lip and frowning, he carefully works his way around his partner-in-arms to get out from the nook.

(He doesn't dare call him anything more, whatever it is that he might want to, because so far getting close to people has only gotten everyone Ryuuga loves hurt, and he is sick and tired of that happening.)

He goes over to the other window, the one further from where they were sleeping, and makes to open it - _'_ _J_ _ust need some air, that's all, that'_ _ll_ _be good_ _enough._ _I ju_ _st need to_ _ **cool down**_ _'_ \- but before he can try and unlatch it, something bumps into his elbow.

Looking down, Ryuuga sees… _'_ _T_ _hat is a giant beetle._ _What the heck?_ _Hey, wait, no._ _Isn't that_ _S_ _hotaro's_ phone _?_ _…_ _Y'_ _k_ _now what?_ _I've_ _seen weirder'._ He holds out his hand, and the beetle obediently lands on it, ejecting one of those usb thingys and unfolding into… yup, definitely a flip phone.

' _O_ _kay, so this_ is _up there on the weird tech scale._ _Welp._ _'_ He holds it up to his ear.

"Don't bother with the window, we haven't been able to get it open for two months now."

"Uh, sorry 'bout that. Didn't know. Thanks for the heads up."

"Looking for some air? Out the door, stairs are to your left. It's about a half flight to get up to the roof."

"Thanks."

"See ya there. Hey, and lock the door behind you, I'll let you back in after."

Ryuuga closes the phone, and almost as an afterthought, grabs the usb doohickey to bring with him too. _'_ _D_ _unno where_ _this thing_ _actually_ goes _,_ _I'_ _ll hav_ _e to_ _have him show me._ _D_ _on't wanna break it or anything.'_

On the roof, he sees a small area set up with two open lawn chairs and a small outdoor table. Two more adult sized chairs, and one kid-sized one, are folded up and set out of the way.

"Pull up a seat." Shotaro waves Ryuuga over to the other free chair.

"There, uh, there anywhere I can just lean?" He wrinkles his nose in thought. "Somewhere sturdier?"

Shotaro looks at him in mild surprise. "There's a raised section over here, should be kinda clean. So is this where you tell me what the whole 'day you were born' thing was about, or are you still dodging that one, and this issue is something else entirely?"

"Eh. It's kinda both. I was overheating myself and I didn't wanna get Sento hurt because of it. Just need to cool down…" Ryuuga growls. "It's so _stupid_ but I can't let him know this happened, okay? He doesn't know about how bad it is."

"Have you been having nightmares? Because you wouldn't be the only one."

"Well, I mean, those're part of why I haven't been sleeping. Can't have nightmares if you're still awake, ya know?" He laughs hollowly. "Sento knows about those, he's been having 'em too. He knows about the heat problem, but not how bad it's getting."

Shotaro pinches the bridge of his nose. "Okay, I know I told you guys that secrets always come out around here, but playing twenty questions is actually _really_ annoying when it's for people I _like_ instead of for my _job_. So. Heat problem?"

"…Eh, to heck with it. He already started telling Emu and those guys, so might as well get it out to you." Ryuuga gives a short, sharp exhale. "I'm part alien. Actually, kinda part _E_ _volt_ , 'cause part of his body tried to take over my mom while she was pregnant but I wound up happening instead."

"…I changed my mind. Let's go back to twenty questions."

"Nope." Ryuuga smirks. "You opened this box, you're gonna have ta deal with it.

"A crapton of what Evolt did was to get my hazard level to the point where he could move his mind into me, so that my body would be able to hold up to his driver's – nah, to HIS power.

"Stuff like killing my fianceé. The murder rap. Starting the whole damned war. Okay, that one was also to get Sento to keep improving the rider system, but still. …Eventually, he poisoned Sento. Gave 'im three days to live. Did it ta make me mad enough to get my level to where he could take over.

"And he made me stronger, yeah, and screwed up all our lives in the process, and. Look, even before we found out about the 'half alien' thing, I was bucking all the trends. Getting way too strong, way too fast. Not just as a rider, as Cross-Z, either."

Ryuuga goes silent for a minute, picking his words in advance, and Shotaro gives him that space.

"…One of the things Evolt could do was throw fire. I don't have that, but I run hot. Always have, even when I was a kid. Wasn't enough to be more'n a note on like, my charts and stuff. Y'know, the 'keep this in mind if he gets knocked out' type of thing, back when I was still a boxer. When I was still something like normal.

"But now it's more intense." He grips his forearms. "Now I'm constantly warmer than I should be, like, I get _actually_ hot to the touch if I get too worked up. Half the time, I don't even _notice_ , cause I'm so used to it. An' I don't always catch on, not until someone – Sento, now – wakes me up out of another damned nightmare, and he has to _pull away_ because touching me _hurts him_." His grasp tightens.

"I'm… I'm scared." Ryuuga chokes back a sob. "I'm scared that someone's gonna get really hurt cause of this, because I'm too stupid to handle my own damn body, and now-" he squeezes his eyes shut against the budding tears. "Now we're getting a chance to get our lives together, but honestly, I'm the one who's prolly gonna ruin everything, 'cause I'm a _freak_ , and-"

"Hey." Shotaro places a hand on Ryuuga's shoulder. It has to sting, even through the t-shirt he's borrowing, because Shotaro's wearing a jacket, but Ryuuga barely even _notices_ the wind chill.

"Hey." Shotaro places a hand on Ryuuga's shoulder, cutting off the ramble. "It's okay. And if it isn't just yet, it will be, got it? Come on, sit down, already." He guides Ryuuga to the empty chair. "First, thank you for trusting me with this. It helps to get it out there, right?" Mutely, Ryuuga nods. "Listen, you're not the only one here who's thought they aren't good enough of a partner for their nerd. And by here, I don't mean out of the riders, I mean 'on this roof'." Shotaro sighs. "But for now… it's late. We both should be getting some sleep. You think you're ready to try that again?"

"…might as well."

* * *

 _ **~morning~**_

It takes a bit for Sento to will his eyes open. He's _comfortable,_ damnit, and really doesn't want to get up. It's kind of weird for that to happen twice in a row now. Weird in a good way. He could do without the giant weight slung over his back though.

Forcing himself awake, Sento takes stock of what he can see. Most of his field of vision is taken up by the side of Ryuuga's head, with the office they bunked in visible behind him.

…Which is odd, since he could have _sworn_ he'd been on the outside of their makeshift sleeping area when they turned in. The weight is Ryuuga's arm, which. Okay. Not the first time they've gotten tangled up when they've shared a sleeping area. Probably not the last, if this arrangement keeps up.

(It's kind of comforting, honestly, to be able to make sure he's still there. They've both had too many sleepless nights, both here and back home.)

But his arm is also _really_ heavy, and Sento kinda has to use the restroom. "Hey, Banjou, are you up?"

"Don't. Move." Ryuuga mumbles into the pillow. "Don't move or we're both gonna get turned into pincushions. Also, uh, d'ya know if you're allergic to cats? Cuz if ya are we're gonna have to move in with someone else after all."

"What?" Sento looks up as much as he can from his rather trapped position. "Ah."

A large black cat is curled on Ryuuga's back, showing exactly zero signs of voluntarily leaving anytime soon.

Well then. If Ryuuga can't move, and he's blocking Sento from the side and the top…

Guess they're both stuck then.

"Not as far as I'm aware. You?"

"Nah, no allergies here. I've never even had a _cold_."

"Zephyr!" someone calls. "Come here, Zephie, leave the nice men alone!"

"Philip? Issat you?" Ryuuga's voice is muffled. "Send help."

"I'm so sorry about her, guys. Come here, girl." The cat – apparently named either Zephyr or Zephie – yawns, and curls up even more. "Drat. I'll _try_ picking her up, but failing that, Shotaro should be in soon. She listens to him more than she does to me."

"Why's that?" Sento asks, attempting in vain to see around Ryuuga's head.

"He's an animal whisperer. There's a reason we get a lot of lost pet cases. Zephyr here followed him home one day, a few months after Mick – my first cat – passed. She was a kitten, didn't have an owner, and refused to leave.

"Kind of like right now." Philip has been trying to ease the stubborn ball of fur off of Banjou's back, to no avail.

Shotaro comes through the door. "Argh, I keep telling you, you have to be forceful with her!"

"I don't want to! That's mean!"

"She is made of solid muscle, you _know_ you're not going to get anywhere being all delicate. C'mere, cat." Shotaro puts his hands beneath her shoulders and lifts. Reluctantly, she allows him to pick her up, making a 'mrp' noise as he does.

Straightening, Sento gets a better look at Zephyr – black, with a white patch on her nose, and bright green eyes. "She's so _cute_!"

* * *

"…Hey. Sento."

"Mmm?"

"I think this might be decaf, because I'm pretty sure I'm still dreaming."

"Banjou, what are you talking about?" Sento doesn't look up from nursing his own cup of coffee – made by Shotaro, because both Sento and Ryuuga refused to so much as step _near_ the coffee pot.

"Think I'm hallucinating a tiny dinosaur chewing at my bag." Ryuuga takes another sip. "…Nope, still there."

Following Ryuuga's line of sight, Sento frowns. "If you're seeing things, then we both are. White and black, right?"

"Fang, no!" Akiko glares at the offending robot. "I _will_ tell Philip on you!"

The robot – Fang, apparently – freezes at that, looks around it's shoulder at Akiko, and – for lack of a better term – _sulks away_.

"Sorry about him. Fang's the memory that Philip uses when he's Double's base, and the only one of their transformation memories to be… er, mobile."

"Oh, so like the phone?" Ryuuga asks.

"Yeah, he's a bit like most of Shotaro's assorted gear, but way more independent." She looks at Ryuuga. "The two of you are taking this in stride."

Sento gets off of the stool, and goes over to Ryuuga's bag to pull something out. "We've got experience. This little guy was our only robot, though." He holds up the Cross-Z Dragon, absently grabbing the two bottles along with it. "Unfortunately, he hasn't functioned since we got here."

"It's strange though…" He rests his hand on his chin as he sets the dragon on the table next to Ryuuga. "Of the things that came here with us… it makes sense that our drivers came along, because we were wearing them at the time, but 'he' came as well, and only the two bottles did."

Ryuuga snorts. "It's not even like they're the ones we actually made – if anything, the one I woke up holdin' oughta be the magma bottle. These two're from the box, and it 'n everything else from it are _super_ gone."

He absently strokes the unresponsive dragon's head. "Even I know this doesn't make sense. And the other times that those bottles-" he points at the rabbit and dragon bottles in Sento's hand "-turned metal, they went back to their old colors after. The way they're _supposed_ to, but now they're still gold and silver."

Shotaro blinks at that comment, from over at his desk. "How do you know that? You guys have been saying Sento's the expert…"

Stiffening, Ryuuga focuses his stare at the bottles. "Just do. Prolly the same way I could find the ones that worked best together."

"Banjou, we were never able to prove that… _that_ was the reason."

"You weren't able to _not_ prove it, either. 'sides, that whole 'best match' deal was like the one thing I could beat you at… and punching. Stupid space magic instincts, and punching. So, two things. Those're the two things ya needed me for that ya couldn't do yourself." He shrugs halfheartedly, before a green slipper connects with the back of his head. "Ow! Hey, what gives?!"

"Quit it!' Akiko glares at him, "You- don't you dare say you're useless! No one is!" She turns to Sento, and hits him with the slipper as well.

"Gah- what was _that_ for?!"

"You were about to start getting down on yourself, too."

"I was not!"

" _P_ _lease_." She rolls her eyes. "I've worked with Shotaro for 9 years. You pick up a sixth sense for that sort of thing."

"Hey!" Shotaro protests from his desk. "I am not-" he hold up his hands in defense against the brandished slipper. "I have been _better_ about the self-depreciation."

Akiko grins victoriously. "Ah, see? He _can_ be taught."

"Well, when the other option was blunt force trauma by slipper..." Shotaro laughs nervously. "Besides, have to set a good example for Haruna, right? That thing doesn't get _nearly_ as much use as it did before you became a mom."

* * *

"Hmm… have these catwalks _always_ shaken this much when they withdraw, or is it just age?"

Philip looks at Sento. "No, they've always done that, at least for as long as we've worked here. We just try not to keep things that are too breakable down here."

"I wonder… given the right parts and equipment…" Sento goes to look at the underside of the catwalk. "Maybe I could make that at least a bit smoother? So it doesn't rattle the room to pieces." He begins to lapse into indecipherable muttering.

"…Yeah, we aren't gonna get anything else outta him for a while." Ryuuga shakes his head. "Just need to be careful he doesn't manage to blow anything up."

"Is that a recurring problem?" Shotaro looks at Sento nervously, who seems to be considering climbing one of the supports. "Also, nothing about the tank?"

"Compared to your fusion stuff, a folding tank is actually kinda normal." Ryuuga shrugs. "I'll try ta take the brunt of any explosions he makes. Though, in his defense, a lotta the stuff Sento was working on was really chemical-y type things."

Philip gives him an odd look. "Did you... do that a lot?"

"Do what?"

"Get hit by explosions."

Ryuuga makes a vague 'so-so' gesture. "I mean, I can't get burned, so. Still hurts like heck, and I can get knocked down by 'em, but that got a lot harder to do as things went on, so it's fine."

Sento freezes, halfway up one of the support braces. "I'm sorry… I didn't even consider how you felt about those experiments…"

"Eh, it's fine. Ya needed the help, and I could take the damage better'n you. Bullshit space instincts helped, too."

"So, you told-"

"Yeah. Last night." He chuckles. "And here I was the one against saying anything. But… I can't say it doesn't help to not keep it quiet. At least… at least among friends."

* * *

 _I return._ :) I have been working on this for _way too long._ I'm _SO_ glad to finally be able to get this out here!


	8. Fundamentals Of Life

no it hasn't been just shy of a year since the last chapter was released what are you talking about

* * *

"You'll just let us work here? Just like that?!"

Akiko nods. "Well, yeah. If we're going to help you guys get back on your feet, this is just part of it. And it's not like you can exactly get work anywhere else yet, now is it?" She smiles warmly when they both look away. "Don't worry about it. You guys'll get papers soon enough, Emu's team's already figuring out what forms you'll need."

"You wouldn't be the first people to have worked here technically illegally, anyway." Philip calls from his spot where he's 'reading'. "I'd like to reiterate the 'actual adults versus literal teenager' comment I made the other day with regards to your situation. Just watch out for some of the Irregulars and you'll be fine."

Ryuuga squints. "Irregulars?"

Shotaro comes through the door as they're talking. "My contact network. Santa-chan and Watcherman can get a little overwhelming sometimes. Queen and Elizabeth _have_ chilled out, though."

"Only because they can't pass as high-schoolers anymore." Philip chuckles. "Other than that, those two are the same as ever. I _do_ wish they'd stop flirting with us, though. Especially after losing the pool."

Sento raises an eyebrow, to which Shotaro sighs.

"Nearly half the city had betting pools on when Philip and I would get together. The girls had a joint bet on how long we'd go between officially dating to proposing. They were off by a week, and Jinno has yet to let them live it down." He scoffs. "Which is saying something, because he had us going a full year between, and lost handily."

* * *

It's an adjustment period, for sure. Eventually, Sento and Ryuuga manage to settle into the fact that they're living normal-ish lives now. After a while the chore rotor for the apartment has been more-or-less decided on.

A few weeks in, Ryuuga pales when he sees who's assigned to handle breakfast. Both he and Sento have proven that they are physically incapable of making coffee, so it's a small mercy that Philip and Shotaro are willing to cover that.

So, that's one fear to deal with. Unfortunately…

"I'll just make myself some toast, thanks."

Sento pouts from his station at the stovetop. "I'm insulted."

"Good!"

Shotaro gives Ryuuga a stern look. "That's uncalled for."

"It is _very_ called for! I value my taste buds, thanks, and I recommend you do the same!" He edges around Sento as he says this, going after the bread.

"My omelettes are _good_ , you just don't know it!"

"Are you using your mom's recipe?"

"Of course."

"Then I'm having toast."

Philip gets up and drags Ryuuga to the table by the back of his shirt. "Let's just give them a try, okay?"

Resigned to his fate, Ryuuga slouches.

Several minutes later, Sento brings out several rolled omelettes. "Here we are! Now, I don't _quite_ have these down yet, but they should be good."

"So they might be edible to anyone who's not you?"

"Just keep talking, funny man."

Sento, Shotaro, and Philip all look judgingly at Ryuuga, who sighs. "Fine, fine… Let's just try these…"

All four take a bite of their respective wedges of rolled egg, and all their faces fall in slightly different ways.

Sento sighs, and sets his chopsticks down. "Damnit. Still not right."

Blinking incredulously, Shotaro looks carefully at Sento. "You… mean that you used too much sugar, right?"

Ryuuga shakes his head. "No. No, he does not."

* * *

Poking his head down into the garage, Ryuuga's shoulders slump. "Here we go again…"

"Oh?" Shotaro doesn't look up from his typewriter. "With what?"

"How possessive of those whiteboards is Philip?" Ryuuga grimaces, turning back to the office. "Because Sento may just start fighting him for them. He's doing obscene amounts of math on one, and it's gonna start spilling over soon."

"He can't be that bad." Chortling, Shotaro sets down the case file he'd been reviewing, and goes to look. "You haven't seen Philip on a _real_ research spiral ye- oh boy."

In the garage, Sento has, indeed, covered one section of whiteboard in equations and diagrams, and is eyeing the next one over. The white is almost covered up with how much he's written.

"Okay, so you weren't exaggerating. How much space did he use before?"

Ryuuga closes his eyes, thinking back. "There were at least three times that his designs wound up going off of his two whiteboards and the chalkboard, onto the actual walls, and the floor was almost invisible under all the sheets of paper he'd used." Opening his eyes, he shrugs. "On the plus side, we don't have to worry about him breaking out the explosive chemical stuff – all of _that_ was nebula gas related, and that's not a problem anymore."

Shotaro bites his lip and shakes his head. "So, basically, if Philip and Sento start bouncing ideas off of each other, we're screwed." He shivers. "I'm still not sure _where_ he got some of the costumes from…"

Ryuuga raises an eyebrow.

"I came back one day after a case, and somehow Philip had gotten a Tibetan Mastiff costume. I'm _s_ _till_ not sure how, since it was a _new_ research topic, and he was still staying at the agency 24/7, due to how incredibly in hiding he was." Shotaro shrugs in response to Ryuuga's blank stare. "I've learned it's best not to ask."

* * *

Philip peers over at the other side of the garage. "What on earth are you doing?"

"Designing." Sento's answer is absent, only paying a bit of attention. "You may need to get a second ladder down here, if we're both going to be like this."

Philip chuckles. "True enough. I need that back, by the way." At Sento's nod, he crosses the gangway over to where Sento is. "What's this for?"

"I'm trying to figure out why the Cross-Z Dragon hasn't turned on, and how I can improve it once I get it going again. Or before I get it going, in case that's where the problem is." Frowning, Sento switches markers, and starts writing notes attached to one of the diagrams. "I can't figure out _what_ could have caused it to shut down. I've tried recharging him – he uses a standard micro-usb charger, and those are the same between our worlds – and he's fully powered, but he will not activate. Even if Ryuuga _doesn't_ use him to transform, it'd be nice to have the little guy back up and running."

Philip leans against the ladder. "So, it's Ryuuga, huh?"

Sento freezes.

Philip smiles. "Don't worry, I won't say anything. I've just noticed that you call him Banjou so often, which feels strange after all you've gone through."

There's a pause before Sento answers. "…It's habit. We didn't know each other well at first, and I _can't_ call him anything else at this point. It'd be weird."

As he gets the ladder closed, Philip looks over his shoulder at Sento. "You might want to rethink that. You two have been through a lot – it might not be as weird as you think. Besides," he hefts the ladder under his arm. "I've seen how you look when you talk about him." He grins, catlike, when Sento fumbles the marker he's holding. "I'm just saying."

* * *

Later, when it's just the two of them and Shotaro in the office, Akiko waves a slipper in Philip's direction, with 'CHEATER' written in gold. "How dare you! No influencing them into taking it further! You'll ruin the betting pool!"

Philip shrugs nonchalantly. "I'm not influencing anything. I'm just pointing out, from one formerly amnesiac researcher to another, that what he calls his partner matters." He grins. "If it plays to any of Sento's _other_ emotions, that's hardly my fault."

* * *

"Sento, it's fine. I don't _need_ to transform, you know."

"Nope!" Sento raises a hand to stop Ryuuga's train of thought. "I am going to figure this out, and I am not taking no for an answer!"

Ryuuga rolls his eyes. "That's all just dandy, _but…"_ He steps over to where Sento's crouched, writing on the very lowest portion of a board, and lifts him up from under the shoulders, ignoring the incredibly undignified yelp. "You're not going to be doing any good unless you get _up_ here and eat something, damnit."

"Oh, come on, I just had breakfast!"

Snorting, Ryuuga hefts Sento over his shoulder. "That was six hours ago. It's noon."

"…Oh." Sento stays quiet for a moment, until he realizes his current position. "Hey, put me down! I can walk there myself, you know!"

"Mmmmm… nah. This is more fun." Ryuuga smirks, not that Sento can see it. "'Sides, I don't get many chances to show off lately. If I'm gonna have absurd strength, I might as well get to use it sometimes!"

He _does_ have to pause when they reach the door out of the garage, though. "Aw, damnit." Frowning, he kicks the base of the door. "Hey! I've got my hands full, can someone get this?"

"Coming, coming! If you break that, you're paying for it!" Akiko's voice carries, and she opens the door – and promptly starts trying to hold in her laughter.

"Yes, yes, laugh it up…" Sento droops, hanging down along Ryuuga's back. "Will you put me _down_ , already?" He glares as Ryuuga puts him on one of the chairs. "I loathe you sometimes."

Ryuuga smirks. "Do ya, though?"

* * *

Sento fidgets with the sleeves of his semi-formal shirt. "I don't know how Katsuragi could stand these things. It's so stiff and coarse, I don't get why anyone would wear this type of thing willingly."

"I still say you should have gone to Windscale-"

"I tried those, too, and they still feel _wro_ _n_ _g_!" Sento sulks. "This is so annoying, why do we have to get dressed up like this again?"

Ryuuga chuckles. "Emu insisted. Said something about it being simpler to demonstrate that we're functional people if we dress at least a little formal. And this isn't 'dressed up.' You haven't seen _that_ until you do a press gala. _T_ _hose_ suck." He glances over at Sento and rolls his eyes. "Come here. Your collar's messed up."

Grumbling, he obliges. "How do you know all of this, anyway? Ugh, so stiff…"

"It wouldn't be so starchy if you had listened to me and washed it before wearing it the first time. The stores stiffen dress shirts so they can display them all tidy and perfect. There, that's better." Ryuuga steps back. "And I know this stuff because being an athlete isn't all training and matches. There's publicity stuff, and vying for sponsorships, and meetings, and it's a whole industry. So _there_." Sticking his tongue out, Ryuuga grins. "I _do_ know stuff, Sento."

Sento smiles fondly. "I suppose you'd have to know _some_ things to have gotten by."

"Hey!"

"Messing with you." Despite his grin, Sento still shifts uncomfortably in his shirt. "Hope Emu gets here soon, I just want to get this over with. The sooner we get legal ID, the better."

There's a knock at the office door, followed by Emu and Parad coming in. "Hey, guys." Emu waves. "Sento, Ryuuga, are you two ready to go?"

Ryuuga nods. "Yeah, close as I can see. …What?"

Shotaro and Emu had both winced at Ryuuga's turn of phrase. Parad smirks. "You want 'as far as I can tell'." He reaches into his jacket, where he _must_ have a giant pocket, and pulls out a hand-stapled mini-book. "I spent the last couple days going over everything I remembered about your world, and wound up putting a thing together." He hands it to Ryuuga, and Sento comes over to join him in looking at it.

Sento looks up briefly. "What's this?"

His shoulders tightening just a little, Parad shrugs. "A lot of sayings and stuff are different from what you're used to. Figured you could use a cheat sheet to convert 'em. I put in holiday differences and stuff, too, all those little things that people take for granted and don't think about until they suddenly change."

Emu sighs. "You can look over it later. We've got a schedule here, guys. Who wants to take which bike?"

Parad raises a hand. "Dibs on driving ours. It's Emu's turn to deal with the phone-bike."

"Hey!" Sento pouts. "It's not that bad!"

Parad narrows his eyes. "Maybe if it's not being used to do stunts, it's not."

"You weren't even on it when I went down the column!"

"No, because I knew better!"

Ryuuga buries his face in his hands. "Clearly, you're _way_ smarter 'n me. Or got lucky."

"Heh." Parad rubs the back of his neck. "Luck has nothing to do with a healthy respect for not falling to my demise."

Ryuuga's expression tightens, but Sento doesn't seem to notice as he protests. "I wouldn't have let you fall! I am a _far_ better driver than that, and besides which, I'd put you through enough-"

"Gentlemen? If we could focus?" Emu taps his wrist. "Like I said, we have an appointment to make."

All three look away. """Sorry."""

* * *

"Sorry about mentioning heights back there." Parad calls over his shoulder to where Ryuuga's seated. "I forgot about the whole… everything with the chasm. Emu told me."

"Just… don't bring it up again, would ya? I… still haven't been able to tell Sento how me 'n Emu met that Eiji guy…"

At that, Parad sighs. "Not like you're the only one keeping secrets about that day. Emu's a little ahead of us, so…" He pulls off to the side of the street, and turns off the motorcycle. "Guess neither of us have said everything about what happened, huh?"

"Thought you two didn't hide anything from each other?"

"To a point." Parad fidgets with his glove before continuing. "Those bottles that Sento made from Emu's power, the ones that I used to contact back here… didn't really… agree with me." He grimaces. "Like, 'passed out the first time' and 'could barely stand' the others. I haven't been able to tell him because… it's his power, y'know? I mean, yeah, that stupid wall you guys had was messing with me already, but it was… bad."

Ryuuga looks towards the road, rather than at Parad. "We… prolly ought to tell them, huh. Or else we're gonna get in even more trouble."

"Yeah. After this, though. Once you two have all your legal stuff sorted out."

* * *

"Okay, the records department is right… or, _should have been_ right here." Emu frowns. "The records department _w_ _a_ _s_ right here."

Emu, Sento, and Ryuuga have all come to the government offices, in order to file the forms to get the two made official. (Parad teleported off, citing 'government offices make him nervous' as his reason.) Problem is…

"They were here. Where there's all the scaffolding. Sure." Ryuuga states, in a flat deadpan.

"Okay, so… we just have to figure out where the department was moved to, that's all..." Emu frowns at the directory on the wall. "And it hasn't been updated. Drat."

"Excuse me, are the three of you lost?" A deep voice asks from behind them.

"Erm, a bit." Emu smiles, ashamed. "We were looking for the records department, but it's… not where it was last time I came here..."

The man shakes his head. "No, there was an… 'incident' with the sprinklers. The files and systems came through fine, but the floors were… a bit of a loss. They've been relocated temporarily."

He starts to give Emu directions, but Ryuuga and Sento look anywhere but at him.

Once they set back off, towards their _new_ target, Emu speaks up. "Something wrong, you two?"

"Er-" Sento starts nervously. "Well, we had to come here a lot back during, well."

Ryuuga huffs. "'s just weird, is all. The floor plan's the same as ours, but what things are where is all different."

Emu gives them a suspicious look, but doesn't press further for the rest of the day.

* * *

 _ **Emu** has come online_

 **E** **mu:** Be honest with me.  
 **E** **mu:** He was Rogue, wasn't he?

 **R** **yuuga:** don't know what youre talkin about.

 **E** **mu:** At the offices. The man I spoke to – I looked him up when I got home.  
 **E** **mu:** He's the assistant to the prime minister.  
 **E** **mu:** and also his son.  
 **E** **m** **u:** Himuro Gentoku.  
 **E** **mu:** You mentioned that 'Rogue' was in the government, and Sento's boss a couple times over.

 **S** **ento:** ... ... …  
 **S** **ento:** okay, SO we've been had.

 **S** **hinnosuke:** Hi, yeah! That's kind of something we'd have liked to know!  
 **S** **hinnosuk** **e:** Any chance we can learn everyone else's names?

 **R** **yuuga:** id rather not

 **S** **ento:** You get why we don't want people to remember now?  
 **S** **ento:** I, for one, would rather not break some of the leading government officials

 **R** **yuuga:** again.  
 **R** **yuuga:** wasnt lying about the floor plan thing, tho  
 **R** **yuuga:** thats weirder than the roads being different.  
 **R** **yuuga:** its freaky.

 **S** **ento:** the more things change…  
 **S** **ento:** also I really really want to change the subject  
 **S** **ento:** and say that it's messed up that kids don't get Halloween off here

 **Emu:** wait what

 _ **Parad**_ _has come online_

 **P** **arad:** Hey, delurking for a little  
 **P** **arad:** Emu, we got ROBBED with that  
 **P** **arad:** ROBBED I TELL YOU.  
 **P** **arad:** Halloween was a bigger thing in Japan over there than it is in America here.

 **S** **hinnosuke:** Okay, you guys can NEVER tell Eiji and Haruna about this  
 **S** **hinnosuke:** You know that, right?

 **E** **mu:** Now that I have this knowledge I can nEVER UN-HAVE IT  
 **Emu:** I WORK WITH KIDS YOU GUYS  
 **E** **mu:** THIS IS THE WORST MUNDANE THING YOU COULD HAVE TOLD ME  
 **E** **mu:** NOW I HAVE TO CARRY THIS FOREVER

 **S** **ento:** ._. I am so sorry  
 **S** **ento:** I forgot about the pediatrics thing

 **R** **yuuga:** wow were just batting a hundred here today arent we

 **P** **arad:** cursed information  
 **P** **arad:** also wtf the guy you talked to to get info on that gear asshole was your enemy

 **S** **ento:** I was nOT AWARE AT THE TIME

 **R** **yuuga:** there were a whole lotta clues man

 **S** **ento:** you were living in the basement  
 **Sento:** and in hiding  
 **S** **ento:** so you don't get to say jill on this

 **S** **hinnosuke:** uhhhh

 **E** **mu:** try again

 **R** **yuuga:** what?

 **P** **arad:** The phrase is 'to say JACK', guys  
 **P** **arad:** Seriously, read that guide all the way through.  
 **Parad:** It'll be SO much easier.


End file.
